Friends & Family
by Shlane
Summary: Kyle decides its time to visit his old friend Scotty in LA, what are the chances of this being a quiet peaceful visit? Does not require a knowledge of both series to be enjoyed.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Friends & Family

Author: Shlane

Rating: T (no worse than is found in either series)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in either Brother & Sisters or the Mercy Thompson/Alpha and Omega series, they belong to their respective creators. This applies to all subsequent chapters of this fic.

Spoilers: All five season of Brother and Sisters, all published work in the Mercy Thompson/Alpha and Omega universe.

Characters/Pairing: All the Walkers(cannon pairings), Warren/Kyle (with brief appreances or mentions of others including Mercy, Adam and Bran)

Summary: Kyle decides its time to visit his old friend Scotty in LA, what are the chances of this being a quiet peaceful visit? Does not require a knowledge of both series to be enjoyed.

Dedication: For Anduria Trianys, I got her into Mercy Thompson after she asked me if I knew a gay pairing from literature that she could use in her Masters dissertation, she also read the early chapters of my main Warren and Kyle fic before they were published and fell in love with the pairing. Then she returned the favour by introducing me to Brother and Sisters, and thus Kevin and Scotty (not for a dissertation though).

Background: Obviously this is a crossover so I had to change a little of the Brother and Sister background to accommodate the Mercy Thompson universe. In this the Fae (a supernatural group who can use magic called glamour to appear human) came out in the late eighties and after the subsequent trouble all moved to four large reservations (at least publically). The werewolves revealed their existence about six months before this fic begins but the majority are still hiding that they are. None of this affected any of the cannon Brother and Sisters plot line (everything happened as it did in the series). Pretty much everything you need to know about Warren and Kyle is given in the story (quick heads up though, Warren is a werewolf and Kyle knows it), what you need to know about Kevin and Scotty is also covered in the story (and the rest of the Walkers are a loving if slightly dysfunctional family)

Timeline: This first chapter has three parts, the first part is set directly after Scotty tells Kevin that he cheated in Brothers and sisters and during the end of Blood Bound for Mercy Thompson. The other two parts take place after Kevin and Scotty are back together and after Iron Kissed/Bone Crossed for Mercy Thompson. The rest of the story will take place after the end of Brother and Sisters and just after River Marked.

AN: This fic started when I made the mistake of telling Anduria Trianys that I'd had a random idea for a crossover (born of having one series on in the back ground while writing fic for the other), she then told me I HAD to write it. This is the result.

* * *

Chapter 1

When his phone started to ring Kyle reached for it with a frown, the ringtone was one of the ones he used a general one for friends who didn't call often enough to warrant their own. It was also late which made him worry; no good news ever came at that time of night.

Warren grumbled as Kyle's movement forced him to sit up from where he had been laying with his head on Kyle's lap. Kyle ignored him but frowned when he saw who was calling and quickly hit the accept button. "Hey Scotty, what's up?"

"Kyle I've done something terrible." His friend sounded like he was crying and had been for a good long time.

"Alright, just tell me and we can fix it."

Kyle had attempted to sound reassuring but his words just caused Scotty to sob. "Why did you have to say that? Do they teach you that at law school or something, he said exactly the same thing."

His references to a 'he' and law school helped clue Kyle in, at least a little, something must be going on with Scotty's partner Kevin. "Scotty, calm down and take a deep breathe." Kyle had plenty of experience at calming emotional clients. "And another, good, now tell me what happened."

"I cheated." Scotty told him. "It was just once, I swear, I would never do that again."

Kyle closed his eyes; it was hard to believe that Scotty, of all his friends, had cheated on the man he loved. Scotty took commitment so seriously, he was devoted to Kevin. Kyle pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to Warren. "I need to deal with this." He didn't bother explaining what 'this' was, there were no private phone calls around werewolves.

"Go on." Warren told him and reached for the remote, as Kyle walked out of the room he heard Warren turn the volume up on the TV, trying to give Kyle what privacy he could for his call.

"What the hell were you thinking Scotty?" Kyle demanded as he sat down in the kitchen. "You love Kevin, I know you do and I know you've had trouble with him but cheating, really? I would never have thought that of you Scotty! There's only a few people in the world I know who would be less likely to cheat!" And those were all werewolves. And Mercy

"I know, I can't forgive myself. I was stupid, so incredibly stupid."

"I'm not going to argue with you there." Kyle said and took a deep breath. "All right now I have that out of my system, what happened?"

"I've ruined my marriage." Scotty told him.

"Are you calling me as your friend or as a lawyer?" Kyle asked with concern, he knew Scotty and Kevin were domestic partners so if they split up things could end up as messy as a divorce.

"Friend."

"Then you haven't ruined your marriage yet." Kyle told him firmly, when people started getting lawyers involved it was usually a sign the marriage was not going to recover. "Tell me what happened, because I know you Scotty, you aren't the type to get drunk and have an affair, so something must have pushed you or encouraged you to it."

"Kevin came in from work and he was so excited about the idea of adopting, and I couldn't go through something like that without telling him. He could hardly bear to look at me afterwards. He refused to sleep in our bed or even the apartment; he's sleeping in his office down stairs. And it was so stupid Kyle, it didn't mean anything to me, it was just this waiter from the restaurant." Scotty started to cry again.

"Okay, first thing, you sure this was just once? It won't happen again?" A marriage could recover from a one-time affair if both parties wanted it to; Kyle knew from a professional capacity that multiple affairs were pretty much the kiss of death.

"Absolutely." Scotty replied and he sounded very certain of it. "I love Kevin more than anything, it was just a stupid mistake."

"Right then, second you need to get yourself tested Scotty, I'm going to assume your lapse of judgment didn't go that far but you need to be sure."

"I already did Kyle, this happened months ago, the night my restaurant opened and Kevin wasn't there. I'm clean. I just couldn't keep it secret anymore."

"Good." Kyle sighed and rubbed his temples, his job was divorce lawyer not marriage counsellor. "Does the guy still work for you?"

"No, he was just extra help because we were so busy, I haven't seen him since and I never plan to." Scotty paused. "I didn't plan any of this, I love Kevin more than anything but he wasn't there and this guy was, and he said stuff that made me feel so good, stuff Kevin wasn't saying. And I knew as soon as it was over that I'd made a huge mistake and I tried to forget it ever happened but I couldn't keep on lying, not when Kevin was talking about starting a family. I've seen what secrets like that do and I couldn't put some poor orphan kid through that."

"Scotty stop." Kyle said firmly, his friend was rambling. "I know you and I know this was a mistaken."

"How do I convince Kevin of that?" Scotty asked helplessly.

"You aren't going to like the answer." Kyle warned him. "Give him space and time. Right now he's angry and hurt, that's going to take time for him to get over, trust me I know that."

"I know, I know I hurt him, but it was just after we were in this huge accident and then our surrogate miscarried, and he pulled away from me and buried himself in his work."

"I understand Scotty, you were hurting then and Kevin is hurting now but you need to give him time. You run the restaurant with his uncle right? So he can't cut you out of his life completely."

"We're trying to keep this from his family for the moment; the last thing either of us want is for this been dragged through the Walker gossip mill."

"So he won't cut you out of his life." Kyle reminded him. "Now you just need to give him some time, don't push him or you might push him away completely. Time and space, that's the only thing I can advise."

"I don't know how I'm going to sleep alone in our bed tonight." Scotty admitted sadly.

"Hug your pillow." Kyle suggested. "And I speak from experience, it doesn't help a lot but it's better than nothing. While I would love to help more, I'm in Tri-Cities, you're in LA and my boyfriend might not understand."

"No." Scotty said with a shaky laugh. "I don't think it would help things with Kevin either."

"Probably not." Kyle said.

"Thanks Kyle." Scotty told him. "I just really needed someone to talk to, and normally the person I talk to is Kevin."

"Glad I could help." Kyle told him. "Now go to bed Scotty, you need to at least try to sleep."

"Good night Kyle."

"Good night Scotty." Kyle ended the called and looked down at his phone for several long moments before he went back into the living room.

Warren was still sitting on the couch watching TV, his damaged ankle was propped on a pillow on the coffee table. Kyle sat down next to him and then lay down so that this time it was his head resting on Warren's lap. "Warren?"

"Yeah Kyle?"

"If I ever got caught up in work to the point where I started neglecting you, you'd tell me right?"

"What's brought this on?"

"My friend cheated because his husband was so caught up in work that he ignored him completely." Kyle turned so he was laid on his back. "You know I tend to be a bit of a workaholic but you'd tell me if it ever got that bad, wouldn't you?"

"Ah darlin', I'd drag you home and tie you to the bed." Warren said with a laugh. "Honestly though, I knew you were a workaholic about five minutes after I met you. I also know that if you can accept that I'm a werewolf then I can accept that you think there are six days in a working week and that the average working day has ten hours in it." He leant down a kissed Kyle. "I'll wait for you for a long time Kyle, I'm patient like that."

"Must be from all that hunting as a wolf."

"Nah, comes from herding cows when I was a boy." Warren told him with a smile. "But if you'll have me then I'll wait for you for as long as I need to, I already waited a century to find you."

This time Kyle kissed Warren. "Love you too." He told him as he settled back onto his side so they could both watch the TV.

"Do you think your friend and his husband will be alright?" Warren asked as his fingers absently played with the ends of Kyle's hair.

"I hope so, Scotty is a great guy and been with Kevin has been so good for him." Kyle looked at the screen without really seeing it and then whispered softly. "I really hope they're alright."

" " "

Kyle didn't hear from Scotty again for nearly a month, a month during which there was so much trouble for his friends in the Tri-Cities that he hardly spared Scotty a second though. It was only after things settled down a little that he realised it had been several weeks since Scotty had called, and Kyle wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He was debating whether he should call or give Scotty another week when the friend in question called him. "Scotty, finally." Kyle greeted his friend, trying not to sound too annoyed but it had been nearly a month. "So do I need to crack open my law texts on dissolving domestic partnerships?"

"No." Scotty said and now Kyle had finally let his friend get a word in he'd realised that he sounded happy. "We're working through it, he forgave me and I forgave him for pulling away from me like that."

"That's good." Kyle said with a relived grin. "Took you long enough."

"Long enough and some help from our niece, my sister-in-law's daughter. She forced us to talk, tricked us into it really, something she defiantly inherited from her mother's family."

"That's good to know." Kyle said. "So you're better?"

"Not yet, but we're getting there." Scotty admitted. "He's moved back in, something his sister Kitty is very happy about. I got myself tested again too, just to be sure, especially after he accused me of tramping about."

Kyle winced, he'd heard that one before a few times, thankfully not directed at him. "I'm happy for you Scotty, I really am. It's good that you got back together, and that it took less drama than Warren and I did."

"Oh god, I completely forgot seeing that on Facebook, how is he? You mentioned he'd been hurt."

"You're excused for forgetting him, given the givens." Kyle assured him. "He's good, everything has healed well, he's even thinking of working for my firm as a PI."

"Probably not the safest career choice but you do live in the Tri-Cities not LA." Scotty said, then added with a laugh. "Actually it's probably no more hazardous to his health than working at a stop 'n' rob. Still makes me glad Kevin has a nice safe career like law."

Kyle wished he could tell the truth but he didn't tell any of his friends or family the truth about Warren. "It is nice that Warren's not working the night shift anymore and I get to fall asleep with him beside me."

"I totally agree, I think these last few nights have been the best I've slept in a month." Scotty sounded so much happier and Kyle was glad of it, one mistake shouldn't ruin the best thing in a man's life if it could be avoided. "You and Warren should come down and visit some time."

"Maybe." Kyle hedged thinking of the fact that Warren would have to get permission from the local Alpha to visit LA and everything his lover had told him about other werewolf packs and gay wolves. "But I'm a little snowed under with work right now and a good friend of ours was recently attacked, she needs us here for the moment."

"Oh God!" Scotty exclaimed. "Is she alright?"

"She was raped." Kyle told him bluntly. "But her boyfriend is helping her deal with it, as are the rest of us. I think she'll be just fine."

"Did they catch the bastard?"

"No need, she killed him in self-defence." Kyle told him, leaving out the Fae enchanted cup and everything else magical that Warren had told him about, Scotty did not need to know about any of that and the police had ended up classing it as a self-defence killing.

"It's good to know he didn't get away with it." Scotty agreed. "But you're right, you should defiantly stay there for now, maybe you can visit later?"

"Maybe in a couple of months." Kyle allowed. They chatted for a while more before they hung up and Kyle went to boot up his laptop, he needed to send a young lady a present.

" " "

"Mom, why are we going to Uncle Scotty's?" Paige asked her mom as she pulled up outside the restaurant.

"I don't know Paige." Sarah replied. "Scotty called and asked me to bring you over after school, so here we are."

` Paige didn't say anything else but got out of the car and went into the restaurant, leaving her mom to follow. She stopped dead when she saw the huge bouquet of flowers that were standing on the bar, the last time she had seen anything like that had been at a wedding. Probably Kevin and Scotty's come to think of it.

"Ah Paige, is your mom here?" Scotty asked as he walked in from the kitchen.

"I'm here Scotty." Sarah answered for herself as she pushed the door open. "And what are those for?" She asked pointing at the flowers.

"They're why I called you, these are for Paige." Scotty explained.

"But Scotty, you and Kevin already gave me flowers." Paige protested, the flowers her uncles had given her as a thank you were the biggest bouquet she had ever seen. Until this one.

"But these aren't from us." Scotty told her. "There's a card." He pointed it out, tucked amongst flowers Paige couldn't name and doubted her mom could either. She had to climb on one of the bar stools to reach it without risking crushing any of the flowers.

She sat back on the chair and pulled out the card. "'To Scotty's Niece.'" She read. "'Thank you, from Kyle Brooks.'"

"Paige? Scotty?" Sarah asked. "Does one of you want to explain why my daughter is getting flowers from a strange man I've never even heard of?"

"Don't worry Sarah." Scotty reassured her. "He's a friend of mine from out of state and he's perfectly safe. There's a longer note too." He added to Paige. "And I don't know what it says, so why don't you read it aloud?"

Paige nodded and opened the envelope. Taking a deep breath she unfolded the sheet of paper inside. It was typed and whoever Kyle Brooks was he had probably dictated it to the florist. "'Dear Scotty's Niece. I'm sorry I don't know what to call you but your uncle was so busy singing your praises that he forgot to tell me your name.'" She read with a laugh. "Scotty!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He held up his hands in mock defence. "Please continue."

Paige smiled and did so. "'Thank you for what you did for Scotty, you helped save the best thing that has ever happened to my friend. I am so glad that you got involved and fixed things before he had to call me professionally. If this is any indication you must be an amazing young woman and good luck to you. From Kyle. P.S. I love a happy ending.'" She looked up at Scotty. "So who is he?"

"He's a good friend of mine who lives in the Tri-Cities, you might not have heard of it since it's up in Washington State." Scotty told her. "I called him right after I told Kevin everything, I needed to talk to someone and he was the best choice. He gave some good advice too, thought I wasn't so good at following it."

"What did he mean by been involved professionally?" Sarah asked as she took a good look at the flowers Kyle Brooks had sent Paige, and wondered how they were going to get them home intact.

"He's the top divorce lawyer in the Tri-Cities." Scotty explained.

Sarah stared at him in shock. "The first thing you did after telling your husband was call a divorce lawyer?" She asked incredulously. "I wasn't even that bad with Joe."

Scotty held up his hands defensively. "I did not call him as a lawyer, I called him as my friend. I needed someone to talk to and I couldn't talk to anyone in LA because neither of us wanted it getting around, especially Kevin. Kyle was far enough away that he couldn't get involved." Scotty shook his head. "And I think I wanted him to tell me that I could still have hope, that I might not have completely ruined my marriage. In his job he's seen the end of enough that he'd know if I had a chance."

"Did he tell you to hope?" Paige asked.

"He did." Scotty agreed. "Right after shouting at me for been an idiot and then reminding me that I needed to get myself tested."

"Oh God, Scotty I never even thought of that!" Sarah exclaimed and she should have done seen as how her own uncle was HIV positive. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Sarah, I got myself checked the very next day. If I was stupid enough to get myself infected that was one thing but I wasn't risking Kevin's health."

"So what else did your friend say?" Paige asked.

"He told me I needed to give Kevin time and space, right after he warned me I wasn't going to like his advice." Scotty laughed and Paige grinned.

"You know I think I'd like to meet this Kyle." Sarah said.

"I have invited him down but he and his partner can't get away at the moment, he did say that maybe they could come down in a few months."

"Well, let me know if they do come down because I defiantly want to meet him." Sarah said. "Come on Paige, we need to pick Cooper up from soccer practice." She looked at the huge bouquet of flowers. "Can you manage those?"

"I'll get them." Scotty offered, he could just about see over the top, unlike Paige. "Lead the way."

* * *

AN2: Please leave me a review since crossovers don't tend to get as much traffic as other stories, also let me know if you think more back ground is needed for either of the series.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

When Scotty's phone rang he assumed it was a Walker, a fair assumption since nine times out of ten when his cell rang it was either his husband or his in-laws. This turned out to be the other ten percent of the time. "Hello Scotty."

"Kyle!" Scotty was delighted to be hearing from his old friend. They hadn't actually spoken since Scotty had told him that his marriage to Kevin had survived his infidelity. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten my phone number."

"Things had been a little crazy here." Kyle admitted. "But they seem to have calmed down for now and I was wondering if your invitation to visit still stands?" The invitation that had been made nearly a year ago.

"Of course it does, I'd love to see you." Scotty grinned happily. "And you have to meet my daughter and son."

"Yes I saw that on Facebook, Olivia looks like an absolute darling in that dress and Daniel is so cute."

"Especially when he's asleep." Scotty agreed. "So will you be visiting alone or is this Warren of yours coming too because I really want to meet him."

"About that." Kyle suddenly sounded serious. "We were both planning on coming but there's something I need to tell you about Warren and we will both totally understand if you decide that you don't want him or both of us to visit after I tell you."

"Kyle you're starting to scare me." Scotty admitted. "Is there something wrong with you or Warren?"

"No, or I suppose that would depend on your definition of wrong." Kyle said. "And it's nothing that could hurt you, Kevin or your kids."

"Then tell me what it is." Scotty wasn't used to hearing the usually cool and collected Kyle beating around the bush like this.

"Okay then." Kyle said and took a deep breath. "Warren is a werewolf."

Scotty was actually shocked silent at that. The Fae were the first supernatural group to reveal their existence to the rest of the world, it had happened when Scotty was about ten but he clearly remembered his mother's reaction. And that had been a sad indication of what her response to his sexuality would later be.

The werewolves were a different matter, they had only come out a year and a half ago and so far there wasn't that much really confirmed about them though there were plenty of rumours and speculation. Actually Scotty remembered hearing a debate about whether or not there could be gay werewolves, guess he knew the answer to that one now.

"Scotty are you still there?"

He shook his head. "Yeah Kyle I'm still here, sorry I just wasn't expecting that."

"So can we still both visit?" Kyle asked a little hesitantly.

"Warren is safe around children right?" Scotty felt bad for asking but he needed the assurance. "The only things I know about werewolves are in the news or gossip, and I know that the gossip probably isn't true."

"But at the end of the day you still have two children who you need to put first." Kyle finished for him. "It's fine Scotty, I've heard some of the stuff they've been saying. Warren is perfectly safe, he has just about the best control of any werewolf in his pack and we wouldn't be visiting anytime near the full moon. Warren is also one of the one that his alpha uses as a babysitter for his daughter. Well she prefers bodyguard and last month it was more of a chaperone of her and her boyfriend."

"Alright." Scotty said. "I'll believe you about Warren, at least until I meet him." He paused. "You don't expect me to keep this from Kevin do you? Because we promised no secrets."

"No I understand, Warren and I have the same rule, but I was hoping you could tell him since he doesn't know me. Also Warren isn't out, at least as a werewolf, so could you not spread it around too much."

"I can do my best but there's this thing call the Walker Gossip Network and it will probably get out eventually, nothing stays secret in this family."

"Just out of the media." Kyle agreed.

"That we can manage." Scotty promised. "I'll talk to Kevin when he gets home, I'm sure he'll be fine once he calms down from the hissy fit he will undoubtedly throw."

"Drama queen?"

"At times." Scotty agreed with a grin. "Unless you hear from me again assume that the welcome mat is out, though I would recommend a hotel rather than anywhere near here if you want a good night's sleep."

"We were planning on it, though Warren would be perfectly happy camping out I want somewhere with room service."

"Okay so assume everything is good unless you hear otherwise, when were you thinking?"

"We still need to confirm our schedules are clear and inform the local alpha for LA."

"We have a pack here?" Scotty asked in surprise.

"Yep and we have to clear our travel plans with him and Warren's alpha but the second part is easy enough. I'll text the details when it's all set."

"Then I look forward to seeing you soon, and meeting your Warren." Scotty smiled.

"Same about you and Kevin, and those kids." Kyle told him then made his good byes and hung up.

" "

Once Daniel was finally asleep and Olivia in bed for the night, Kevin finally got a chance to ask Scotty just what had him in such a good mood. "A friend of mine called today to say that he finally has time to come and visit, about a year after I first asked him."

"Would this friend be the same one who sent Paige an even bigger bouquet of flowers than we did?" Kevin asked.

"That's Kyle." Scotty agreed. "I invited him to visit at the time but he and his boyfriend were both busy with work. However finally they have managed to clear their schedules and are planning to visit. Kyle really to meet you and the kids."

"You're really excited about this aren't you?"

"Of course, I haven't seen Kyle for years, not since he moved back to the Tri-Cities. Facebook and phone calls just aren't the same."

"How do you know him?" Kevin asked.

"We met just after I moved to LA, he was working on a case or an internship or something, I don't actually know what because I don't understand legal stuff even now and I certainly didn't then."

"He's a lawyer?" Kevin asked and Scotty nodded. "Who does he work for?"

"He's a partner in his firm and the highest paid divorce lawyer in the Tri-Cities." Scotty didn't notice the way Kevin tensed.

"Did you date him?"

"Not officially." Scotty told him. "We did sleep together once but we were more friends than lovers." He took a good look at his husband's face. "Kevin are you jealous?" He asked incredulously.

"No." Kevin immediately protested. "Maybe. I don't know." This Kyle was everything that Kevin had always though he would be by this point; a rich, successful lawyer who was a partner in his firm. Finding out his husband had screwed a twenty-something waiter had seriously dented Kevin's confidence as well as hurting him. He'd always been conscious of the fact that he was a decade older than Scotty but the affair had brought it home again. The fact that this Kyle was everything Kevin had planned to be and that he has once slept with Scotty, even if it was before they met, had brought up all the insecurities that he thought he's got rid of for good.

"Kevin you have nothing to be jealous about." Scotty insisted. "What happened between Kyle and I was years ago. We were friends who slept together one night after an evening of alcohol and commiserating over homophobic parents. And we certainly weren't pining over each other, because that was at least three months before he went back to the Tri-Cities and we both dated other people before he did." He kissed Kevin. "Plus Kyle has a serious, long-term boyfriend of his own that he's bringing with him so you have absolutely no need to feel insecure. He's happy with Warren and I am very happy with you."

Kevin smiled and kissed Scotty. "Sometimes I don't think I deserve you."

"Well I happen to think we deserve each other." Scotty replied with a grin. "However there is something you need to know, and Kyle only told me about it this afternoon. Warren is a werewolf."

"He's a what?!"

"A werewolf." Scotty repeated.

"And you want to let him near our kids?"

"What are you talking about?" Scotty demanded. "Kyle assured me that Warren is perfectly safe at any time of the month, just because he's a werewolf doesn't mean that he's a danger to us or Olivia and Daniel. God Kevin, that's the sort of thing they say about guy men to try and stop us having kids, I cannot believe you would say that!" Actually he could and this was exactly what he had meant when he told Kyle that Kevin would throw a hissy fit.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Kevin replied. "But what was I supposed to think? The only thing either of us know about werewolves is what's in the news."

"You could trust me enough to trust my friend's judgement." Scotty replied. "Kyle would never do anything to put a child in danger."

"What are you arguing about?" They both turned to see Olivia standing in the doorway to her bedroom and dressed in her pyjamas. "You're going to wake Daniel." She added in a reproving tone she could only have learnt from her grandma Nora.

"I'm sorry if we woke you as well." Scotty told her.

"It's alright." Olivia told them. "I wasn't asleep yet, Paige lent me a book and I wanted to finish the chapter, so what are you arguing about?" She added the last part hesitantly, Paige had told her that her new fathers had gone through a lot of rough patches over the years and she didn't want to see one of the first-hand.

"Come here." Kevin told her and patted his knee, Olivia went happily enough and settled so she was facing Scotty where he was sitting next to Kevin. "We weren't really fighting if that's what you're worried out." He assured her. "Scotty just told me something very surprising and I said something I probably shouldn't have."

"Something about werewolves?" Olivia asked and then looked embarrassed. "You were been really loud." She added a little defensively.

"Yes about werewolves." Scotty said. "A friend of mine called Kyle wants to visit long with his boyfriend Warren, who is a werewolf. Kyle thought that we should know about Warren before deciding if we wanted to see them or not, because you know that some people don't like the Fae or werewolves."

Olivia nodded. "Martha in my class says they're all evil." Of course since Martha also said Kevin and Scotty were going to hell Olivia didn't pay a lot of attention to her. "I've never met a werewolf before." She said with a shy smile.

"Would you like to?" Scotty asked her. "Because Kyle would really like to meet you and Daniel, he seems think that you look like an absolute darling in that dress you wore for Sarah's wedding."

"Did he see the photos of your two dancing with Luc?" Olivia asked.

Scotty laughed. "Yes, he saw them all on Facebook and had a good laugh at them." He put his hand on her knee. "Does this mean you'll be alright with meeting Kyle and Warren? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No I want to." Olivia replied. "People are afraid of things they don't understand and I can't understand something unless I see it for myself, right?"

"Exactly." Kevin said, giving her a hug. "And I'm very proud of you, now off to bed, you have school in the morning."

"Night." She said giving Scotty a hug as well before going back to her room.

"Don't read for too much longer." Scotty called after her, she acknowledged him with a wave over her shoulder. Once her door was closed he turned back to his husband. "Have you calmed down now?"

"I don't really have much of a choice." Kevin replied. "I can't have my own daughter taking things better than I do." He took Scotty's hand in both of his. "I'm sorry for how I reacted, I should have thought more. I know that you would never do anything to risk Olivia or Daniel."

"Thank you." Scotty said and put his free hand over Kevin's. "But truthfully? I knew that was how you'd react, I even told Kyle that and I also told him that you'd be fine once you got it out of your system."

Kevin laughed. "I really do love you."

Scotty gave him a quick kiss. "Love you too, now how about a movie before bed?"

"Works for me." Kevin said, reaching for the remote and turning the TV on. He settled back on the couch and Scotty used him as a pillow. "Oh look, 'American Werewolf in London' is on."

Scotty smacked is leg lightly and laughed. "No Kevin, find something else."

" "

Kyle didn't actually give Warren much of a choice about going away, though after the last month or so they both agreed that they needed a break. Between their heavy workload, helping with Mercy and Adam's surprise wedding, honeymoon, and aftermath, they needed to do nothing for a while.

That was when Kyle ad remembered his friend Scotty's standing invitation to visit, besides he really wanted to meet his friend's children who he had so far only seen on Facebook. A week or two in LA would be fun, and it would be nice to go swimming in the sea instead of a pool and maybe he could even fit in some surfing.

When he'd suggested it Warren hadn't objected. "Though I hope you don't think I'll be doing any surfing."

"No, but you can admire the view and rub lotion on my back." Kyle replied flirtatiously.

"The view looked pretty good from here." Warren replied. At the time they had both been shirtless as it was a very warm evening and Kyle was tending the new grapes they were growing against one wall, replacements for the ones a cantankerous, egocentric, spiteful, and now deceased, neighbour had killed.

It had actually been Warren who had suggested that they tell Scotty and Kevin what he was before they visited and Kyle had to admit it was a good idea. He was actually very pleased that, after his initial shock, Scotty had taken the news very well and seemed to think his husband would too. Since Kyle hadn't received any text indicating otherwise he assumed they were still welcome.

Visiting arrangements with the LA alpha were handled but the simple expedient of Kyle calling Mercy and asking her to talk to Adam about it. Warren had been putting it off for some reason, which turned out to be that he didn't get on with the LA alpha. Warren did complain that Kyle had been a bit high handed in everything but all Kyle had to do was promise to spend one night camping with Warren and he'd stopped complaining, so somehow Kyle didn't think Warren was anywhere near as annoyed as he was pretending to be.

Now he was finishing up his Friday afternoon work and looking at two blank weeks in his planner. Somehow he and Warren had both managed to clear two whole weeks of both work and, for Warren, pack commitments. Though both men suspect that Mercy and Adam had a lot to do with the latter and they weren't going to complain about it.

Deciding that, for once, the work really could wait, Kyle packed up. Angelique was still at the front desk and did a double take when she saw him obviously heading home, she even double checked the time on the wall clock. "Heading home early?" She asked. Although it was only five minutes until everyone was officially done for the day she knew, as did everyone else in the firm, that Kyle tended to work late.

"I thought I'd make sure I'd finished packing, and that Warren had actually folded his clothes rather than just throwing them in a bag."

She laughed. "Well it's good to know one of you can pack, because no other man I know I can."

"I had to learn." Kyle said.

"Enjoy your vacation." She smiled. "Where are you going again?"

"LA." He told her just as Warren walked into the office and also did a double take at seeing Kyle ready to go home. "Sun, sea and catching up with old friends."

"Sounds like a perfect holiday." She agreed. "Just be careful neither of you end up in the ER, nothing ruins a vacation faster than a hospital visit."

"Don't worry ma'am, I'll keep an eye on him." Warren assured her.

"Keep an eye on yourself too, hijo." She ordered as she also began to pack up for the day.

"Planned to." Warren said but his attention was now on Kyle. "You ready to go?"

"I wanted to make sure we had everything we needed packed and ready to go, it's an early flight in the morning." Kyle said as he walked over to join Warren by the door. They both called out their good byes to Angelique before leaving.

"I'm sure that there a store in LA for anything we've forgotten." Warren reminded him. "Shall we eat out tonight?"

"We'll need to." Kyle agreed. "There's nothing to cook with at home." They'd done the minimal shopping for anything perishable that week since they would be gone for the next two weeks. "Do you have any preferences for where we go?"

"Chinese?" Warren suggested.

"That works for me." Kyle agreed. "And the good news is that Scotty owns a restaurant in LA and is, reportedly, and excellent chef." Warren laughed and they agreed on a restaurant before heading to their separate cars.

" "

Warren did not like flying; that much Kyle could easily tell from his tense posture. At least in first class they had room; he'd hate to think what his partner would be like in the cramped conditions of economy class. Warren had driven them to the airport in his truck, leaving Kyle's jag safe at the house on the theory that people were far less likely to try and steal a battered, if much loved, truck and he'd been fine until they were actually on the plane, then he'd tensed up.

"Relax." Kyle said softly knowing that Warren could hear him perfectly well.

Warren had to lean over to reply privately since Kyle didn't have the senses of a wolf. "Find me a single wolf who likes flying, even Peter hates it."

"I'd offer to help you relax but they tend to frown on that, especially on these smaller planes." Kyle said with a grin as he took Warren's hand in his.

"Do you speak from experience?"

"Maybe." Kyle replied flirtatiously then sobered up. "On that subject though there is something you should know about me and Scotty, and I probably should have told you sooner."

"You slept with him?"

"Once, years ago." Kyle admitted. "We were never in love though; it was just for fun after a few drinks. It's not going to be a problem is it?"

Warren squeezed his hand. "I hardly thought you were a virgin when we met Kyle, I know you've dated and slept with other men. That doesn't matter to me, what matters is that you are my mate and there's no one else now."

"There isn't." Kyle assured him. "And there won't be." He leant over and kissed Warren, he pulled back he noticed the disapproving look a businessman on the other side of the isle was giving them. "I love you."

"I love you too Kyle." And because the businessman was still glaring at them, Kyle kissed Warren again.

* * *

AN: I am hoping to get into a regular posting schedule for this fic, approx. once a week. Also as anyone who reads my other active fic will know I have a lot of deadlines looming and have been forced to put that fic on haitus for the moment. I am hoping that will not affect this fic as I have already written several chapters ahead (which is part of the reason those deadlines now looming) so with any luck (and a weekly schedule) this fic will keep going.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The restaurant was closed and Scotty was sitting at the bar reviewing the menu for the coming week when he heard the door behind him open. He turned and his face broke into a wide grin as he recognised one of the two men who walked in. "Kyle!" He stood and hugged his old friend

"Hey Scotty." Kyle returned the hug. "It's good to see you again." He pulled back a bit to give Scotty the once over. "And you certainly look smart in that chef's uniform."

"You haven't changed Kyle." Scotty said.

"You have." Kyle replied. "You're calmer, and much happier I think?"

"Yeah, I'm happy, very happy."

The man behind Kyle cleared his throat which caught Kyle's attention. "Oh, sorry. Scotty this is Warren Smith, my partner. Warren, Scotty Wandel, my old friend and chef extraordinaire."

"Well I don't know about that extraordinaire part." Scotty said as he held his hand out to Warren. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Warren had a Texas accent Scotty noticed, and unless he was mistaken those were cowboy boots.

"So this is your restaurant?" Kyle asked, looking around. "Do we get free samples?"

Scotty laughed. "Later, why don't you come upstairs for a while? We can talk in peace there and the staff will be setting up for the dinner soon." Scotty led Kyle and Warren upstairs to his apartment. "Kevin is working at the moment, Olivia is at her cousin's and Daniel is with his grandma so it's just us."

"How did he take the news about what I am?" Warren asked.

"Kevin took it as well as I expected but he calmed down pretty quickly, oh and we had to tell Olivia too since she overheard us discussing the subject rather loudly." Scotty admitted as he let them into the apartment and gestured for them to have a seat. "Do you want a drink?"

"Coffee please, black." Kyle asked.

"I don't know how you can drink it like that." Scotty said with a shake of his head. "Must be a lawyer thing, Warren?"

"Just water for me, thanks."

Scotty got them their drinks and water for himself and sat down as well. "So how did Olivia take the news of an impending werewolf visit?" Warren asked.

"Better than her dad, which I think embarrassed Kevin into rationality. She said she'd like to meet you but you aren't allowed to eat Zemulon."

"Zemulon?" Kyle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Her gecko, don't ask."

"He's safe from me." Warren commented. "Not enough meat on a gecko to make it worth the effort of catching." Kyle laughed at that and Scotty took his cue from him and laughed as well.

"We stopped to eat on the way here, you cannot be hungry." Kyle protested. "Scotty one thing you will quickly learn is that there is nothing on earth with the appetite of a werewolf. I'm serious we go out for dinner and then pick up a takeaway on the way home."

"My body runs faster and hotter than a human's." Warren defended.

"Not going to argue with you there love, you're defiantly hot." He added flirtatiously and then in an aside to Scotty that was loud enough to Warren to easily hear. "I'd keep him around just to be a hot water bottle in winter."

Scotty laughed, yes Kyle had certainly not changed. "So what were you thinking of doing while you're here?"

"Warren's never been to LA so we were thinking of playing tourist for a while and I defiantly want to get in some beach time and surfing." Kyle told him.

"Do you surf at all Warren?" Scotty asked.

"No, that would be hazardous for my health." Warren said and then explained at Scotty's confused look. "Werewolves can't swim, our muscles are too dense for us to float. I will be perfectly happy to watch."

"Do you think you can find time to join me?" Kyle asked Scotty. "It's a lot less fun surfing on your own."

"I have no real skill but I'm sure I can fit you in somewhere, in fact my brother-in-law is a much better surfer than either of us, we could invite him too."

Kyle agreed to that quickly. "I don't mind, the more the merrier."

"Oh don't say that or we'll have the whole clan there with us and poor Warren will be subjected to a Walker interrogation on the beach while we surf."

"I'll survive." Warren promised. "I'm sure I've been through worse."

"You don't know the women in Kevin's family." Scotty warned him. "They'll have all your secrets out of you."

"I still think I've been through worse." Warren insisted. "You two should have your fun, Kyle puts up with enough of my problems and pack that I can put up with your in-laws."

"You might regret saying that." Scotty said. "But if you insist I'll call Justin later and see about getting our surf date set up." He paused for a moment. "I think Kevin will probably want to come but I'm not sure about Luc."

"Luc?" Scotty asked, it was yet another name he thought he recognised but wasn't sure why. Then it clicked. "Oh the guy who's wedding you did that crazy dance at! He's hot, and very familiar for some reason."

"Yes that would be Luc." Scotty agreed, noticing that Warren had rolled his eyes when Kyle said Luc was hot, obviously he was very familiar with Kyle's tendency to 'window shop' other men. "And if you're having trouble recognising him, it's probably because he has more clothes on in the wedding video and pictures. But he has done some underwear modelling."

"Seriously?" Kyle laughed.

"Yes." Scotty said. "And I'll warn you now that Kitty Walker-McAllister is my sister-in-law."

"The Republican?" Kyle stared at him in shock, then realised something else. "Then that crash she, her husband and family were in a couple of years ago, Scotty were you involved in that? Is that what started the problems with you can Kevin?" Scotty nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It just didn't seem important at the time and I guess Facebook isn't quite as good for keeping in touch as face to face meetings." He gave Kyle's shoulder a shove. "Besides you're one to talk about keeping secrets, what's this drama that caused you to two get back together?"

Before either Kyle or Warren could answer that one the door banged opened and Olivia walked in, dropping her bag next to the door as she did so. "I'm home!"

"Olivia, come and meet our guests." Scotty said, holding out his arm to her. She sat on his knee and he wrapped his arm around her. "This is my daughter Olivia, Olivia this is Kyle Brooks and his partner Warren Smith. Kyle is the old friend I told you about the other week."

"And Warren is the one Kevin was getting stressed over?" Olivia asked with a grin. "It's nice to meet you." She told them both then turned her attention back to Scotty. "Can you help me with my homework tonight? I'm having a problem with my English assignment."

"Of course I can." Scotty said and kissed her hair. "But only if you go, pick your bag up and put it in your room before Kevin trips over it again." She grinned but went to do as she was told.

"She's a little darlin'." Warren said with a smile. "Reminds me of Jesse at that age, she could never remember to pick up her bag either but Adam always said any wolf who tripped over it deserved it. Adam's my alpha." He added as a quick explanation for Scotty.

"Hauptman?" Scotty asked, Warren nodded. "I've heard he does a lot of consulting for the government, I also heard he got married a couple of weeks ago, so quietly that the media had no idea he'd moved the date until he was spotted in D.C. with a wedding ring."

Warren laughed. "He didn't move the date, his wife did and it wasn't all that quiet either."

"You have to explain now." Scotty said. "And I take it that the craziness that had just calmed down is linked to this wedding?"

"Partly." Warren agreed. "And I can't talk about most of it, but we organised a surprise wedding."

"A surprise wedding?" Scotty knew that his own wedding to Kevin had been what some might call a surprise with only a week's notice, if they'd been a hetero couple someone would have made shotgun comments for certain. But he still wasn't sure how you got a surprise wedding.

"Well the first thing you need to know is that we are both really good friends with Adam's wife Mercy." Kyle told him. "In fact Warren as known her longer than Adam."

At that moment Olivia came back in and sat down next to Scotty. "What you talking about?" She asked.

"Kyle and Warren were just about to explain how they helped organised their friends' surprise wedding." Scotty told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her cuddle into his side.

She frowned. "How do you get a surprise wedding?" She asked. "The bride and groom must know they're getting married."

"The bride thought she was eloping." Warren told her. "Got a bit of a shock to find everyone in the church waitin' for her."

"But that's jumping to the end." Kyle interrupted. "It all began when our friend Mercy had to start planning her wedding and her mother insisted on helping." Kyle then proceeded to spin a tale of stressed brides, bets and competitions which left the competitors feeling guilty that they were going to push the bride into eloping to get away from them. Which resulted in them planning a surprise wedding, ready to go as soon as the bride decided to elope.

"Jesse, Adam's daughter, brought me in to make sure the groomsmen had their tuxes sorted out in advance." Kyle explained. "And then I helped her to cover up what she was doing since we only told her father about it three days before the wedding."

"Remind me to make sure this Jesse never gets within ten miles any of the Walker women." Scotty said and Olivia poked is ribs. "What?" He protested. "I'm just worried they'd try to take over the world or something." He looked back at Kyle and Warren. "So the bride just turned up at the church to find it full?"

"All her friends and family, human and otherwise, waiting for her." Kyle grinned. "And I swear it looked like half the small town she grew up in where there too."

"Human and otherwise?" Olivia asked. "Do you mean werewolves?"

"And a few Fae Mercy is friends with." Warren told her.

"I actually think the humans were outnumbered." Kyle told them.

"It was a close thing but I don't think anyone took a head count." Warren said and then thought about it. "No I think you're right, you were outnumbered."

The ringing of Scotty's cell interrupted them. "Hello." He answered repressing a groan; it was the restaurant's number which meant it was seriously unlikely to be good news.

It wasn't. "I'm really sorry to interrupt but we need you down stairs, we're seriously short staffed. The sous-chef called to say she running about an hour late and whoever is doing the bar set up hasn't shown up yet."

Scotty groaned. "I'll be right down." He promised and hung up. "I'm really sorry guys but they need me downstairs."

"Do you need some help?" Warren asked. "I couldn't help overhearing." He added apologetically. "I might not be able to help with the cooking or make fancy cocktails but I've had some practice at setting up a bar."

"I don't want to impose." Scotty protested. "You're supposed to be on vacation."

"It's not a problem." Warren insisted.

"And why don't we go downstairs too." Kyle said to Olivia who did not look happy that Scotty was going to have to work. "And we'll see if I can help with your homework, I can't have forgotten that much English since I was in school."

"All right." Olivia agreed. "But no legal speak."

"Legal speak?" Kyle asked.

"Kevin always uses much longer words then I need to, especially when he's been in court all day." She said and Kyle laughed.

"Agreed, no legal speak." Kyle promised.

Olivia went and got her school work from her room and the four of them went downstairs. Olivia sat at the table in the back of the restaurant that she usually used when she did her homework downstairs and Kyle sat with her while Scotty gave Warren a quick rundown of the bar and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"Hopefully someone will be in soon to take over." He shouted over his shoulder as he disappeared.

"This must happen a fair bit if you have your own work table." Kyle said as Olivia pulled out her school books.

"Sometimes I work in Kevin's office if he's here and has something he needs to do. Or if they know they're going to be really busy then I go to Grandma Nora's. Normally when this happens Uncle Saul keeps an eye on me while he does his own work, but he's away with Jonathan this week."

"Uncle Saul and Jonathan?" Kyle asked.

"Saul is Grandma Nora's brother and Jonathan is his boyfriend, well fiancé but grandma was complaining that they'll never set a date."

"Well that's better than Scotty and Kevin, who got married so quickly I couldn't get the time off to be there." Kyle complained. "Now what's the homework?"

"It's this silly thing where we're supposed to correct the spelling and grammar errors in a paragraph." Olivia told him as she pulled out the sheet. "And then we have this sheet to do on verb tenses."

"Oh that is torture." Kyle agreed. "Why don't you have a go at it first and then we'll look over them and see if you missed anything? And start with the verb tenses since that's probably the worse bit so it'll be good to get it out of the way."

"Okay." Olivia agreed and picked up her pen.

Meanwhile Warren was doing reasonably well at setting up the bar for the evening crowd. He'd only had to shout a couple of question to Scotty, shout because there was no way he was going any further into the kitchen than the doorway. It looked like chaos and frankly he'd been to pack meeting that were quieter.

He'd just come back from getting some more olives from the storeroom when an older woman walked in carrying a young boy, her grandson judging by the age difference. "I'm sorry ma'am but we're closed at the moment."

"You must be new here." She told him. "I'm Nora Walker, Scotty's mother-in-law."

"My apologies again then ma'am." Warren said. "I don't actually work here, I'm just helping out because Scotty is a little short-staffed this evening. My name is Warren Smith."

"Pleasure to meet you." Nora said but before she could say anything else Olivia came in.

"Hey Grandma." She said as she hugged Nora. The little boy obviously recognised her because he started reaching for her. "Hi Daniel, did you have fun with grandma?" He babbled some noises that sounded like it might be a yes, he wasn't old enough to be talking yet but he certainly knew when someone was walking to him and wanted to have his say as much as anyone else in the family.

Kyle had followed Olivia into the room, she had jumped up from her homework the second she heard Nora's voice. Nora saw him and raised an eyebrow that he had followed her granddaughter into the room. "Kyle Brooks." He introduced himself as he moved to join them and offered his hand to Nora. "I'm an old friend of Scotty's, and I see you've already met my partner Warren."

"I'm Nora Walker, Kevin mom." She said. "Where's Scotty? Warren said something about been short staffed?"

"His sous-chef is running late." Kyle explained. "So he's covering for her in the kitchen and I'm covering for him with Olivia and her homework."

"And Warren got stuck tending the bar." Scotty said as he walked in. "I thought I heard your voice Nora and I see you've met my friends already." Daniel obviously recognised his dad and started squirming so Scotty took him from Nora. "And this is my son Daniel." He held up Daniel's hand like he was waving. "Hello."

"He's a cutie, no doubt about that." Kyle said.

Scotty beamed with pride, like every other parent on earth he loved hearing people praise his children. "Thank you both." He told them. "Warren someone will be here soon to take over the bar and Angela should only be another fifteen minutes or so."

"It's no problem." Warren told them from where he was stacking glasses. "Like I said, I've had practice at this sort of thing."

"Nearly finished with your homework?" Scotty asked, turning to Olivia.

"Nearly." She agreed. "Kyle is lots of help."

"Not too much I hope, you're supposed to do the work yourself." Her father reminded her.

"I've had some practice at this Scotty." Kyle told him. "I'm just checking and correcting."

"Why don't I stay for a bit?" Nora suggested. "I can keep an eye on Daniel for you since your friends seem to have their hands full already."

"Would you?" Scotty asked. "I hate to ask after you've had him all afternoon already."

"Not a problem." Nora said taking him back from Scotty. "We had fun and it's not like there's anyone waiting for me at home who can't look after himself."

"I won't be much longer." Scotty promised just as someone shouted his name from the kitchen. "Coming!" He shouted back and grinned at everyone before leaving, he knew his mother-in-law far too well. Nora wanted a chance to meet Kyle and Warren, and would happily use her grandson as an excuse.

"And I hear your homework calling." Kyle told Olivia, who sighed heavily but turned back to where her homework was indeed waiting if not actually calling. "Would you like to join us?" Kyle asked Nora.

"Alright." She agreed. "You know, Scotty was very excited when he told me you were coming."

"I can imagine, we haven't seen each other in years." Kyle told her as they sat down. "I was sorry to miss his wedding."

"Well I did tell them they needed to give people more than one week's notice but they wouldn't listen." Nora replied as she pulled a toy out of her bag to keep Daniel occupied while she began her interrogation of Kyle, just in case Kevin's irrational concerns about Kyle were true. "Are you and Warren married?"

"No." Kyle told her, recognising the maternal interrogation for what it was. "But we may as well be, it's just that neither of us feel the need for a piece of paper to tell us we're in this for life."

"That's what a lot of people your age say until they're holding the piece of paper." Nora pointed out.

"And we live in a pretty up tight town." Kyle said as he wiggled his fingers for Daniel. Who immediately abandoned his toy and started playing with Kyle's fingers instead. "The Tri-Cities is not LA, I just glad it's not Texas either."

"Should I warn you now my daughter is a staunch Republican?" Nora half joked.

"Scotty already did."

"Kyle." Olivia broke in, pushing her paper towards him. It was the paragraph she was supposed to be correcting.

"Not bad." He said with a smile. "But I can still see a spelling error and two grammatical errors, have another look." With a sigh Olivia pulled the sheet back towards her and started looking over it again.

"You're good at this." Nora observed. "Do you have children?" Kyle shook his head. "Nieces or nephews."

"Yes but I rarely see them, my family aren't comfortable with my being gay, though my sister tries."

"Then how are you so good with kids?" Nora asked.

"Did Scotty tell you what I do for a living?"

"No but Kevin did." Nora said, her son had been feeling a little insecure at the time.

"Divorces can be messy, very messy." Kyle said and Nora nodded her agreement, she'd seen it first-hand since three out of her five children were divorced. "Sometimes people take their anger out on others who can't defend themselves. I've offered my house as sanctuary to clients and their children who are or might be in danger. Part of what Warren does as a PI for my firm is security for anyone who's been threatened."

Nora stared at him in shock. "That's amazing."

"Well it needs doing, and given the size of my house it's not exactly a hardship."

"How did you start doing that? Nora asked.

"Social services were threatening to take a client's daughter away because the girl's father broke her arm and my client couldn't prove that she could stop it happening again. I asked the social worker if letting them stay with me would be enough, since the father didn't know where I lived. It worked out well and eventually the father ended up in prison for assault with a deadly weapon."

"Kyle." Olivia broke in again. "I still can't find the last mistake."

Kyle pulled the sheet so they could both see it. "Look here." He pointed to a line. "Someone mixed their words."

"Yes!" Olivia said with a grin. "It says 'their' but it should be the 'they are' version not the possessive."

"Good job Olivia." Nora said proudly, then added to Kyle. "You'd never know that a year ago she couldn't read."

Olivia looked away, embarrassed but Kyle grinned and hugged her against his side. "Well that just makes her an even more amazing young woman."

"Can we go upstairs now?" Olivia asked. "Kyle and Warren haven't met Zemulon yet."

"The gecko?" Kyle asked.

"The gecko." Nora agreed with a look that told Kyle not to ask any more. "And we should probably wait here for Warren."

"No need to wait for me." Warren called. "My replacement just got here." He appeared around the corner, drying his hands on a towel.

"Let's go upstairs then." Nora agreed. "And Olivia can introduce you to her gecko while I put Daniel down for a nap."

"Should we tell Scotty where we're going?" Warren asked.

Olivia had finished packing her homework away and darted to the kitchen door, sticking her head through the gap she shouted. "Scotty, we're going upstairs." And didn't bother waiting for an answer before returning to the others. "Done." She said with a bright grin.

They went upstairs and while Nora dealt with Daniel, Olivia pulled Kyle and Warren to her room see Zemulon. They listened as she told them about getting the gecko just after she moved in and laughed when she told them that Kevin still looked green every time she said she needed to feed Zemulon, apparently her dad did not like the idea of feeding live crickets to something.

"You know most kids want a dog not a gecko." Kyle pointed out at one point.

"I lived in a group home, there wasn't room for a dog so I never thought about one. Besides geckos are cooler." Olivia told them. "There's no room for a dog here either."

"She has a point Kyle." Warren said. "Can you imagine a dog in this place?"

"If it was a Chihuahua maybe." Kyle said with a laugh.

Olivia wrinkled her nose. "I don't like those little yappy things, big dogs are much better but they need lots of space." She added with a shy look at Warren. "I guess you two have a really big house then?"

"I had it before I met Warren." Kyle told her. "But it does mean I don't risk tripping over him like you would here."

"Olivia have you had something to eat yet?" Nora called from the main room.

"Not yet." She shouted back. "Are you two hungry, Nora's a really good cook. She does all these big dinners for the family."

"We're fine." Kyle told her. "We ate on the way here." Nora made Olivia a sandwich and coffee for herself, Kyle and Warren. They were sitting around the table listening to Olivia tell them about school when Scotty came up and Kevin was with him.

"Well is this a private party or can anyone join in?" Kevin asked when he saw the number of people gathered around the table.

"Hey Kevin." Olivia said after she swallowed the last of her sandwich.

"Hey Olivia." Kevin said and kissed the top of her head. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes and I finished all my homework already, Kyle helped me with it cause Scotty had to work."

"Did he?" Kevin asked looking over at the two strange men and wondering which was which, they were both a little too attractive for his tastes, especially the one with the shorter hair.

"Kevin, this is Kyle Brooks and Warren Smith." Scotty decided that introduction were in order. "As you probably guessed this is my husband Kevin Walker."

"Nice to meet you." Warren said from where he was sitting, he'd noticed the weary look that Kevin had given him and decided not to antagonise the other man.

Kyle however stood and stepped around the table to offer Kevin his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, I've heard quite a bit about you from Scotty." Kevin shook his hand and Kyle continued. "He told me you changed his life for the better and I can certainly see that you did." While Kyle was good at antagonising people when he wanted to, he was also good at smoothing things over when he needed to.

"Thanks and thank you for helping Olivia with her homework, we like for her to have it done before dinner when possible."

"Not a problem, she only needed a bit of help." Kyle smiled. "Your daughter is a very clever girl."

"There was only one bit I couldn't do until Kyle pointed out where to look." Olivia told him proudly.

"Well I should be going." Nora said since the tension seemed to have dropped a little in the room. She had told Kevin that he didn't need to be worried or jealous of Scotty and Kyle's past and now she'd met Kyle and Warren she was certain of it. Kyle was very happy with Warren and wasn't about to try anything with Kevin's husband, interestingly Warren didn't look at all insecure so either he was very confident in his relationship with Kyle or he didn't know about their past. Nora hoped it was the first, it would make for a quieter time, though that wasn't something the Walkers were known for.

"Kyle, Warren, we're having a family pool party on Wednesday once the kids get out of school, you should come." She invited them as she picked up her purse.

"We wouldn't want to intrude." Warren told her politely.

"You won't be." Nora told him. "The more the merrier." She paused for a moment. "Actually I think it would be a very good idea, we're having an informal dinner afterwards."

"That's because we don't all fit round the table anymore when the kids are there." Kevin pointed out. "And mom, do you really think it's fair dumping the entire family on them in one go? Or are you trying to scare them back to the Tri-Cities before they've even unpacked?"

"Nonsense." Nora said firmly. "There's nothing about our family that would scare them off."

"It might be a good idea." Scotty told Kyle and Warren. "If you don't come then all Kevin's siblings are going to find some, probably rather flimsy, excuse to drop by and meet you. It's better to get it over with quickly, like removing a band aid."

"You did not just compare my family to a band aid!" Kevin exclaimed.

"You have to admit there are similarities." Scotty told him. "And we were thinking about asking Justin if he wanted to go surfing with us anyway."

"You surf?" Kevin asked, a little hurt that he wasn't invited, especially if his little brother was. "Why aren't I invited?"

"I was going to ask you tonight." Scotty told him. "But I kind of assumed you'd want to come."

"And I don't so much surf as fall of the board with something vaguely resembling grace and style." Kyle put in which made everyone laugh.

"Do you surf Warren?" Nora asked.

"No ma'am." Warren said with a firm shake of his head. "I stay on the beach and admire the scenery." He glanced at Kyle to make it clear exactly what type of scenery he was talking about. "I should point out I don't swim either."

"Then you can sit on the loungers and 'admire the scenery' from there, heaven knows it's all my daughters usually do. And Kevin."

"That was one time mom." Kevin protested. "And you have to admit, Luc looks good in just a little pair of shorts."

"You have a point there." Nora agreed and the adults all laughed.

"I'll be in my room, you guys are been weird." Olivia jumped out of her chair and disappeared in the direction of her room.

"She'll understand one day." Scotty said.

"Hopefully not anytime soon." Kevin muttered.

"Every parent hopes that." Nora pointed out. "But it never happens, so are you coming?"

"You better if you want to avoid been ambushed my family for the rest of your vacation." Kevin told them.

Kyle looked over at Warren and they held one of the silent conversations that only couples who knew each other well could before Warren nodded. Kyle turned back to Nora. "Well if you're sure then we'd be delighted to join you."

"Good." Nora said with a nod. "Kevin or Scotty will give you the details and I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Be careful guys, she's already put you on her mental Christmas card list." Scotty warned them after the door had shut. "You are a dinner party and family meltdown away from Nora adopting you."

"He's right." Kevin told them. "She's like a mafia don, once you're in it's for life."

"If I hadn't just met her that would be a scary description." Warren told them as Kyle and Kevin sat down at the table.

"I'm sure you've seen scarier things than my mom since you're a werewolf." Kevin pointed out. "I mean don't you have to answer to your alpha or something like that."

"I do." Warren agreed. "But Adam's a good guy and I could leave the pack if I really wanted to. It sounds like there's no getting away from your mom."

"Be nice." Scotty laughed. "I get on better with Nora than I do my mother, though she is trying a more than she used to."

"You're supposed to hate your mother-in-law." Kyle pointed out. "Not get on better with her than your own mother."

"Mom adopted Scotty as another son." Kevin said with a smile for his husband. "And I swear she usually takes his side over mine."

"That's usually because I'm right."

"Well it's better than my family and Warren doesn't have one."

"Oh god, don't let my mom hear you say that." Kevin warned them. "Or you'll be finding yourselves invited to Christmas never mind on the mailing list." He shifted a little in his seat. "You know I've been sat on court chairs all day, do you think we can move this to something comfier?"

They relocated themselves to the couches, Kevin and Scotty sat on one while Kyle and Warren took the other. They talked for a while until Warren's phone beeped to warn him he had a message. "It's just Mercy wanting to know that we arrived safely." He quickly text back. "But we need to be going." He told Kyle. "We have dinner reservations in an hour."

"You're not going to eat here tonight?" Scotty asked with mock hurt.

"I thought we'd save your cooking as a treat for another night." Kyle told him as he stood and stretched. "But we can spy on the competition for you if you like?"

Scotty laughed. "I have missed you Kyle." He stood and pulled Kyle into a hug before kissing his cheek. "I'll text you Nora's address and the times for Wednesday, and I hope I'll be seeing you again before then."

"Probably." Kyle agreed. Warren stood and shook hands with Scotty while Kyle turned to Kevin. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too." Kevin said, shaking Kyle's hand. "Olivia, Kyle and Warren are leaving!" She darted out of her room to hug them both before they left, then went back to whatever she had been doing while Scotty went to see about cooking them dinner.

* * *

AN: Sorry this was so late, I suddenly realised how much work one of those looming deadlines required. Anyway in honour of getting two out of four assignments done I thought I'd put this up. You can probably expect the next chapter in a week or two and then hopefully I'll have cleared this back log and will get to a regular posting schedule (and have time to visit the coffee shops where I always get inspiration for this so that I actually finish it!)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

* * *

"So what do you think?" Scotty asked as he pulled ingredients out of the kitchen cupboards.

"Not what I was expecting." Kevin allowed.

"Of my ex or a werewolf?" Scotty asked knowingly.

"Both, but mostly Warren, I've met enough of your friends I know what to expect there. But he was a lot quieter than I'd have thought a werewolf would be, more reserved too."

"I found out he's in Adam Hauptman's pack, I'd never made that connection before." Scotty admitted. "I know Hauptman is alpha of a pack in Washington state, anyone who pays attention to the news knows that, but I never made the connection between that and the fact that Warren lived in the Tri-Cities."

"No one really knows how the whole werewolf pack thing works; they don't talk about it much." Kevin reminded him. "Do you think we'll manage to keep that secret from my family for the whole two weeks?"

"Not a prayer." Scotty said honestly. "I doubt it will last past the surfing trip and I really did assume that you'd want to come which is why I didn't say anything about asking you."

"I believe you Scotty." Kevin said as he leant against the kitchen wall to watch his husband at work.

"Does this mean you aren't feeling threatened by Kyle anymore?"

Kevin thought about what he'd seen of Kyle and Warren: The way Warren had automatically shifted on the couch so Kyle to lean against him and then wrapped his arm around him, the way Kyle at reached for the hand of the arm Warren had wrapped around him and interwoven their fingers. All things that he and Scotty did as second nature. "No, now I've met him I'm not bothered by it anymore, he's your friend but he only has eyes for Warren."

"Good." Scotty said. "Because otherwise the next two weeks would have been really awkward."

"Sometimes I just need to see things to believe them." Kevin pushed himself away from the wall and pulled Scotty into his arms. "Besides I couldn't blame him if he still wanted you, god knows I sometimes want you so bad it hurts."

"Only sometimes?"

"Well I have to keep my mind on the job when I'm in court." Kevin said with a grin and then kissed Scotty until they were both breathless.

"You know, as much as I'm enjoying this I don't want to have to explain to Olivia why dinner is delayed." Scotty reluctantly pointed out.

"You're right." Kevin agreed. "Do you want me to call Justin about the surf trip now?"

"Would you mind?"

"Not at all." Kevin agreed. "It'll help me keep my hand off you while you cook." He pulled out his cell and hit the speed dial for his younger brother. "Hey Justin."

"Hey Kevin, so have you met Scotty's ex yet?"

"Yes, and his partner but if you want the gossip go call mom, she's met them too."

"As soon as I get off the phone with you." Justin had long ago abandoned all pretence of not enjoying gossip as much as his sisters. "So if we don't need to run the ex out of town why are you calling?"

"Because Kyle and Scotty have made plans to go surfing at some point while he's here and Scotty was wondering if you would like to join them."

"They aren't inviting you?" Justin asked with a frown clear in his voice.

"Apparently it's such a given that I'd want to go, Scotty didn't even see the point in asking me." Kevin told him. "He just assumed I'd be there, Kyle's partner will be there too but since he doesn't surf he will be, as he put it, admiring the scenery."

Justin laughed. "Oh man, I have got to meet these guys."

"Well you will do, mom decided to invite them to the pool party she's organised on Wednesday. Apparently as a defence against you all inventing reasons to crash their vacation just to meet them."

Justin laughed. "Wait until I tell Sarah and Kitty, I cannot wait until Wednesday!"

"So are you coming surfing?"

"Count me in, hey do you think Luc would want to come?"

"Can he surf?" Kevin asked, trying to remember if they had been surfing with Luc yet.

"No idea." Justin said. "But it seems like a good time to find out."

"We'll sort it out on Wednesday." Kevin told Justin and hung up on the younger Walker before his brother could say anything else.

"He's coming?" Scotty asked over his shoulder.

"Yes." Kevin told him. "And I think he's either gone to pester mom for gossip on your friends or fill Kitty and Sarah in on the news that they'll be at the pool party."

And the Walker gossip network goes to work once again, Scotty thought to himself as he went back to mixing the pasta sauce he was making for dinner.

" "

"Kevin was jealous of you." Warren told Kyle over dinner. "At least when he first walked in."

"I noticed." Kyle agreed. "He seemed to get over it before we left."

"I think he saw how close we are and realised there was no danger that you were going to try and steal his husband." Warren said as he finished what was on his plate. Portion sizes at restaurants were nowhere near big enough in his opinion and even Kyle complained about them sometimes but they could stop for takeout on the way back to the hotel if they needed to. Or order room service, even Warren had to admit there were some advantages to Kyle's insistence on five star hotels. "I'm just glad we're both more secure in our relationship."

"Scotty's betrayal hit Kevin hard." Kyle said "At least from what he's told me, I'm not surprised Kevin was feeling a little unsure of himself, I'm just pleased it won't cause any problems for them or us. How do you feel about this party?" He asked taking a drink of his wine.

"It can't be any worse than the pack." Warren told him. "And you get your surfing."

"With lots of company from the sounds of it." Kyle said. "Should be interesting."

" "

Justin did one better than call his mom, he went round to her house and found Kitty already there with Evan. "Hang on a minute." Kitty said before anyone said anything thing. She pulled out her cell and dialled Sarah. "I'm at mom's and I'm putting you on speaker."

"Hello Sarah." Nora said in a put upon tone. "Let the interrogation begin."

"So is Scotty's old friend trying to steal him back and do we need to chase him out of town?" Sarah asked without preamble.

"Did Kevin go complaining to everyone?" Nora asked.

"Yes." Came from all three of her children.

"Well you can stop loading you guns or sharpening your knives." Nora told them. "For a start Scotty's friend, whose name is Kyle by the way, brought his own boyfriend with him. A boyfriend he is very happy with if I'm any judge."

"Are you sure mom?" Kitty asked.

"Kyle himself said they're married in all but name." Nora told them. "And they can hold those silent conversations that long-term couples are so good at."

"Oh, I remember those." Kitty said.

"And before you start plotting to run into Kyle so you can see for yourselves, he and his boyfriend Warren will both be here on Wednesday. So leave them alone until then."

"What did you think of them mom?" Kitty asked.

"They both seem like good men." Nora said thinking of what Kyle had told her about sheltering abused partners and children at his house.

"Olivia likes them!" Paige shouted, evidently Sarah had them on speaker phone too and her daughter had overheard.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked.

"Duh, she called me." Paige said. "Do you think it's only you that call each other whenever you have a bit of news?"

"Imagine what they'll be like in ten years." Kitty said to the room in general.

Brody walked in at that moment. "Exactly like the rest of you I imagine." He said as he dropped a kiss on Nora's cheek. "What's the gossip tonight?"

"Scotty's ex is visiting and we're checking we don't need to run him out of town." Justin filled him in.

"Which we don't, because no one is trying to steal anyone." Nora said firmly. "Now I'm sure you all have some something better to do than interrogate me about you brother-in-law's ex."

"We could go interrogate him instead." Justin said.

"No." Nora said firmly. "And I don't even care which him you're talking about, there will be no bothering Kyle, Warren, Scotty or Kevin. They will be here on Wednesday, save it for then."

"Oh that reminded me." Justin said. "Hey Sarah, can Luc surf? Because Scotty and Kyle seem to be organising a guys' surfing trip and we were wondering if he wanted to come."

"I'll ask." Sarah said. "What about Kyle's boyfriend?"

"He's guarding the towels since apparently he can't swim." Justin told them.

"How can someone not be able to swim?" Kitty asked. "That's an important life skill that responsible parents make their children learn."

"Save it for Wednesday." Nora said firmly. "Now go find something else to do with your evening and stop bothering me." She picked up Kitty's phone. "Good night Sarah." She said and ended the call before anyone could object. Then she turned to the two children who were in the room. "Go find something better to do."

"Taylor's working mom, I literally have nothing better to do tonight." Justin told her.

"Well isn't that lucky." Nora said with her hands on her hips. "Because a couple of the flower beds need weeding and it's still light enough out there for you to get a start on it."

Justin looked panicked. "Actually mom I just remembered something really urgent, I have to, ah, visit one of the NA guys." He glanced at his watched. "Wow mom, thanks so much for reminding me, I'm nearly late, got to go. Bye" And he was out the door, anything to avoid gardening.

Nora just looked at Kitty with a raised eyebrow. "You know what mom, I really should be getting Evan home, it's almost past his bed time. Evan, say bye bye to grandma it's time to go."

Less than five minutes later Nora and Brody were alone. "I'm impressed." He told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I learnt a long time ago that none of my children like gardening, of course none of them can garden but that's a different matter."

"So what do you really think of Scotty's friends?"

"I do like them; they both seem like good men." What Nora didn't say was that she also thought they were keeping a secret; it had finally got the point where she thought she was starting to recognise the signs of a man keeping a secret. And it was about bloody time too.

" "

Kyle and Warren spent several days playing tourist around LA, Kyle even opted to drag Warren on the star homes tour which prompted the werewolf to point out that Kyle's house was bigger than a couple of those. Even if his didn't have a tennis court sticking out from the side of a hill, which Kyle thought just looked tacky.

Venice beach had been interesting, including the two headed turtle and the guy sculpting a dragon out of sand. Warren found a bracelet he though Jesse would like, his Alpha's daughter had jokingly said that he had to bring her a present back and he'd decided to take her seriously, besides it wasn't as if he had that many other people he could have brought presents for.

"Hey Warren." Kyle's voice caught his attention. "So you think that looks like Snowball?"

Warren looked at what Kyle was pointing at and saw a medium sized trinket box. On the lid was painted a picture of a white wolf surrounded by a winter mountain landscape. "It reminds me of Montana too." Warren agreed.

"No one is ever going to Samuel live the Snowball thing down are they?" Kyle asked with a laugh. Snowball was a spur-of-the-moment nickname Mercy had given Samuel-in-wolf-form, he'd been going through a rough patch and refusing to return to human form.

"It's a reminder that killing himself is not a good idea." Warren told him. "And he doesn't mind it since Ariana likes it." Ariana was Samuel's Fae girlfriend, their history was ridiculously complicated and they had only just been reunited after a very long separation.

"Do you think she'd like it as a Christmas present?" Kyle asked. "I know it's early to be thinking about that and I don't know if she celebrates or not."

"Samuel does and she did with him last year." Warren reminded him. "And if it doesn't work for her I'm sure we can find an excuse to send it to Anna." Anna was Samuel's sister-in-law, the most sweet tempered werewolf Kyle had ever met.

"I'll get it then, have you spotted anything Mercy might like?"

"Not yet." Warren replied. "She's always hard to buy for." They brought the presents they'd found and headed out of the shop. Kyle took the chance to grab Warren's hand, they usually didn't walk hand in hand, it much attracted far too much attention and trouble in the Tri-Cities. Even if Warren was perfectly capable of handling any trouble it usually seemed a better idea to avoid it when possible.

But Kyle figured that in LA and Venice Beach of all places, they should be fine. After all if a teen could sit on the sidewalk with a sign saying 'Need $1 for weed' then two men holding hands shouldn't be too much of a problem.

"At least he's honest about it." Warren said when Kyle pointed the teen out. "Do you want to get something to eat?" He added as they walked past a café. Kyle nodded but ended up getting just an ice cream while Warren got two club sandwiches to go, they had reservations for Scotty's restaurant that evening but werewolves needed a lot of food. All you can eats were remarkably popular.

They shopped for a while longer, still not managing to find anything for Mercy, when Kyle suddenly stopped and looked round before looking at Warren. "I think we're been followed."

Warren sighed. "We are, it's fairly common for an Alpha to have strange wolves shadowed when they visit his territory, especially the first couple of times. However they are supposed to be discrete." He sighed and turned in the direction Kyle had looked. He spotted the young man leaning against a wall and made his way over, Kyle following him.

"One of the LA pack I assume?" Warren asked quietly, quickly assessing the other werewolf and deciding he was the more dominant wolf. "I also assume this is the first time you've tailed a visiting wolf because you are supposed be discrete, not so obvious my human mate spotted you."

"The boss told me to keep a closer eye on you than usual." The other wolf replied, not looking Warren in the eye which did help Warren keep a leash on his temper, somewhat.

"I'm Third in my pack." Warren snapped. "I didn't get there by causing trouble, nor did I make it past my first century by been indiscrete around humans." He knew why the local Alpha was having him followed more closely than usual and a glance at Kyle's face told him that he did too.

"Apparently equal rights haven't reached the LA pack, has the twenty-first century made it here yet?" Kyle asked sarcastically. The LA wolf growled at Kyle but Warren had him pinned against the wall by this throat before he could do anything more.

"Do not threaten him." He warned in a low voice, tightening his hand around the other wolf's throat for a moment in warning. "Now get lost, I don't want to see you again and I'll be calling my alpha later." Without waiting to see if the other wolf would obey he grabbed Kyle's hand and pulled him back out into the crowd of shoppers.

They walked for a couple of minutes and Kyle could see the tension in Warren's posture so he said lightly. "Well I can see why you weren't in a pack before Adam's if that's what they're all like."

"I told you the LA Alpha and I don't get along." Warren muttered. "And you really need to learn not to antagonise wolves.

"I only did it because I knew you were there." Kyle assured him. "I know it can be dangerous but you wouldn't let him hurt me."

"No I wouldn't."

Kyle stopped and turned to Warren. "And it's so hot when you go all dominant like that." He added with a grin before kissing him.

Knowing that Kyle wasn't disgusted or even bothered by Warren's actions, actually exactly the opposite, helped Warren relax and the tension eased from his shoulders. He smiled. "You still need to be careful darlin', I couldn't bear the idea of something happening to you."

"I'm careful." Kyle remained him. "I just have no problems with making homophobic bastards squirm."

"That is a good description of the local Alpha and I need to call Adam before he does."

They found a quiet place for Warren to make the call. He quickly filled Adam in on what had happened and Adam agreed that the other wolf was in the wrong. "If there are any repercussions I'll take care of them." He promised.

"Thanks Adam, I am trying to teach Kyle not to antagonise strange wolves." Warren told his alpha.

"Good luck with that." Adam snorted. "He probably stuck his hands in zoo cages as a child."

Since Kyle didn't have a werewolf's hearing, and thus the ability to overhear phone called, Warren repeated that part to him. "Only if the animals got insulting!" Kyle protested. "And if the Alpha causes trouble you could always sic Mercy on him."

There was no need for Warren to repeat his answer to Adam. "She's not back up to fighting weight yet." In the background Warren heard an indigent snort and the sound of Mercy throwing something at Adam. "I'll see you when you get back Warren." Adam promised and hung up, probably going to deal with his now annoyed wife.

Kyle smiled as Warren hung up but noticed that Warren was still tense. "You alright?" He asked.

Warren shook his head. "Adrenalin from dealin' with the other wolf. Sorry." He looked away

Ah, now that Kyle understood. The flight or fight response in werewolves was pretty much just a fight response and dealing with the LA wolf had got Warren worked up. Kyle knew that much for certain since Warren's eyes were still wolf gold. However the way he wouldn't look at him made Kyle suspect Warren was ashamed or at least embarrassed by his reaction.

Kyle had not objections to helping him with either reaction. "Do you want to head back to the hotel and I'll help you work off some of that adrenalin rush?" He offered with a flirtatious grin. "Because watching you go all dominant on that other wolf was really hot."

His admission seemed to be a sign to Warren because the words were no sooner out of his mouth than Warren had him pushed up against the wall and was keeping his mouth occupied with things other than talking.

"So I take it that's a yes." Kyle gasped when Warren finally let him go. "Come on, back to the hotel before we get arrested." Warren grabbed the bags that they'd both dropped in one hand and used his other to pull Kyle in search of a cab.

" "

They spent a very enjoyable afternoon in their hotel room and only just had time to grab a shower before heading to Scotty's restaurant. Separate showers Kyle had insisted or they'd have never made it on time.

As it was they still arrived a little later than they had planned. "Do you have a reservation?" Ask the older man when they walked in.

"I think Scotty made one for us." Kyle replied. "I'm Kyle Brooks."

"Ah yes, of course, Scotty told me you were coming in tonight." The man said. "I'm Saul Holden, Kevin's uncle."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Kyle told him. "Kevin's told us about you, this is my partner Warren."

"Pleased to meet you." Warren said.

Saul nodded to him. "Scotty reserved you a table." He said gesturing to a table set a little apart from the others. They seated themselves and Saul handed them the menus. "Would like a drink to start with?"

"What wine would you recommend?" Kyle asked.

"I see Kevin and Scotty having been telling you about the family." Saul said which made Kyle and Warren laugh. The Walkers were, in Scotty's words, wine experts. Kevin had said it just helped with the family dynamics. "The dry white is good and will go well with all the starters."

"I'll have that then." Kyle said and looked at Warren, normally he didn't drink since he'd drive them home. Alcohol didn't have much, if any, effect on werewolves but it still wouldn't avoid a DUI if he was breathalysed so it was easier to just avoid the problem.

"I'll have the wine too since we're taking a cab back to the hotel." Warren said. Saul nodded and went to get their wine. "Kevin did say his family have good taste in wine, so I thought I'd sample it."

"He also said they're family arguments are fuelled by wine, you planning on sampling those too?"

"Not if I can help it." Warren replied. "The pack has enough drama to make up for a lack of family." Kyle laughed. "We should actually read these menus you know." Warren pointed out and they both took a moment to see what was on offer.

"Let me guess, steak?" Kyle said when he'd read over it.

"Am I that predictable?" Warren asked with a smile.

"I like to think I just know you that well." Kyle replied.

"Are you ready to order? Saul asked when he came back with their wine.

"I'll have the mussel, bacon and brie tartlets." Kyle said.

When Saul looked at Warren he shrugged. "I'll have the same."

"Do you want to order your main now?" Saul asked as she wrote their order down.

Kyle glanced back down at his menu. "The sea bass with sizzled ginger, chilli and spring onions looks good."

"It is." Saul agreed. "And very popular, Warren?"

"Not to be too predictable." He said with a look at Kyle. "But I'll have the sirloin steak with whatever Scotty wants to put with it and whatever wine you'd recommend."

"Same for me about the wine." Kyle agreed. Saul nodded and left them while Kyle smiled over at Warren. "You are so predictable lover, you know that right?"

"But you love me anyway."

"Yes I do."

" "

"Scotty your friends are here." Saul told him when he brought their order into the kitchen.

"Oh good they made it." Scotty said giving Saul a quick glance before returning most of his attention to the dish he was preparing. "What do you think?"

"I like them." Saul said. "And I don't think Kevin has anything to be worried about."

"Oh God! Is there anyone in the family Kevin didn't talk to about that?"

Saul paused for a moment. "I don't think Tommy knows."

"Tommy is also in Phoenix and we haven't seen him since Sarah's wedding." Scotty pointed out. "Angela can you do the starters for the order Saul has?" He shouted to his sous-chef. "And really Kevin never had anything to worry about; Kyle is big on loyalty and honesty. He would never cheat on anyone or help someone else cheat."

"Kevin's just a little insecure." Saul pointed out.

"I know, and I know that's my fault."

Saul broke in. "No it isn't, that didn't help but Kevin has always been a little insecure." He handed Scotty the order. "I have to get back out there but what have you boys been telling them about us and wine?"

"Nothing that isn't true Saul." Scotty said with a laugh. "Which of these is Warren's?"

"The steak, why?"

"Just wanted to check." Scotty said as he mentally doubled the portion size that the recipe called for, werewolves had large appetites he had leaned.

" "

Kyle laughed when he saw the amount of food on Warren plate. "I'm not sure what Scotty was thinking but he insisted." Saul explained as he set their plates down.

"No it's alright." Kyle said. "I think he just knows Warren very well for having only known him a few days."

"I think I'm supposed to send my compliments to the chef." Warren said as he happily picked up his fork and took a bite of the steak. "Defiantly."

"I will tell him you appreciate it." Saul said and left to fetch the wine to go with their main course.

"I think he's trying to stop you hitting the takeout on the way home." Kyle grinned.

"It tastes better than McDonalds." Warren told him and they both applied themselves to their meal, pausing to thank Saul when he brought their wine.

Somehow Olivia must have found out they were in since she came down to see them. "Hey." She said as she stood beside their table.

"Hello Olivia." Kyle said. "How was school?"

"It was fine and I got the best mark in my class for the homework you helped me with so I wanted to say thank you."

"You are most welcome." Kyle told her.

"Are you hungry or something?" She asked, noticing that Warren still had more on his plate than the usual portion size.

"Blame you dad." Warren told her. "I think Scotty doubled the portion size, probably to make sure I don't eat Zemulon."

Olivia laughed. "You wouldn't!" Warren just grinned at her. "I have to go before I get into trouble with Uncle Saul, are you going to be at the pool party tomorrow?"

"We are." Kyle agreed.

"Good, because Paige really wants to meet you, and thank you for some flowers?" She frowned at the last bit, conveying what Paige had told her but not understanding it.

"I'm looking forward to meeting her too." Kyle told her. "Now scoot before Saul catches you." She grinned and darted for the door that lead up to the apartment above the restaurant. "She really is a sweet girl."

"She is." Warren agreed. "Do you ever wish you had kids?"

"Sometimes." Kyle admitted. "You?"

"Never really thought about it." Warren told him. "For so long it was impossible, it's only recently they started letting gay couples adopt. And there's the werewolf issue, you know the questions raised about werewolves and their own kids." There were questions raised in the media as to whether werewolves could be counted as responsible parents, Warren's pack had paid attention to the debate since Adam was divorced and had shared custody of his daughter. At least that had been the arrangement for a while, currently Adam had full custody due to his very human ex-wife abandoning the fifteen year old home alone while she went a holiday of unknown duration to Europe. Adam had not been impressed.

"It might be nice to have children." Kyle agreed. "But I'd rather have you alone than kids with someone who isn't you." He leant over the table and kissed Warren, it was nice that no one battered an eyelid at the display of affection. "I love you."

"I love you too Kyle." Warren told him. "You're my mate." Kyle smiled at that and they both turned their attention back to their dinner.

* * *

AN: Posting schedule? What posting schedule? I hereby abandon all pretence of a plan, the chapters will go up when I have time (and remember, mostly when I remember)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kyle and Warren ended up having dessert, twice in Warren's case, and hanging around until the restaurant was officially closed and all the other diners had left. They'd moved from their table to the bar so that the staff could clean up around then and were on their second cup of coffee when Scotty came out of the kitchen. "So I hear complements were sent to the chef, was that for the quality of the food or just the quantity?"

Warren laughed. "Both but the food was very good, thank you for the extra."

"Well I was just trying to save you from fast-food on the way back to the hotel." Scotty smiled. "A little bird also told me that you have a visitor during in dinner, I hope she wasn't a problem."

"Not at all." Kyle assured him. "Olivia just wanted to tell us how well she did in the homework I helped her with and to check we were going to be at the party tomorrow."

"So you haven't thought of a way out of it yet then?" Scotty asked.

"We haven't tried." Warren told him. "Kyle likes swimming, I like watching him swim, why would we try and get out of it?"

"The Walker family?" Scotty suggested.

"They seem fine so far." Warren said.

"That's because you've only met them one at a time." Scotty reminded him. "In a large group they're completely different." He thought for a moment. "The first time I meet the whole family, Kevin's sister had invited me to a party."

"His sister invited you?" Kyle asked.

"I know." Scotty said with a shake of his head. "So this dinner party wasn't long after William Walker, Kevin's dad, had died and most of the meal was absolutely silent because all of Nora's children through they were keeping a huge secret from her. Until Nora spoke up and pointed out that she knew full well that her husband's mistress was seated half way down the table."

"Awkward." Kyle said with a shake of his head.

"That would be an understatement." Saul had walked in just in time to hear the back end of Scotty's story. "With an introduction like that I have to wonder why Scotty agreed to marry Kevin."

"I figured I'd already seen them at their worst and at least I knew what I was marrying into." Scotty said. "I think the bigger question is does Jonathan know what he's letting himself in for? Has anyone told him the stories about the Walker family dinners?"

"No, I haven't and you are not allowed to." Saul said firmly but he was defiantly blushing. "At least there aren't any more family secrets that can come out at this pool party; I think we've had them all."

Scotty, Kyle and Warren looked at each other before Scotty said. "Don't worry I'm sure there's no more family secrets that can scare your fiancé off." Warren after all wasn't family. "So Jonathan is coming too?"

"Nora insisted." Saul said. "I think she wants everyone there, she'd probably have Tommy and Elizabeth there too given half the chance."

"Looks like she'll have to settle for us instead." Kyle said. "And we really should call a cab so you two can get home for the night." While they waited for the cab to arrive they talked about what Kyle and Warren had been up to, leaving out the encounter with the local werewolf.

"We still haven't seen anything for Mercy." Kyle told Scotty. "She's not expecting anything but I feel like I should, she's like a sister to me."

"Jewellery?" Scotty suggested and was surprised when Warren burst out laughing. "What?"

"Mercy is not exactly what you'd call feminine." Kyle said diplomatically. "Usually all she wears is her wedding and engagement rings."

"And the chain Adam gave her on their honeymoon." Warren reminded him. "It's to put her rings on when she's working and it has one of his dog tags on it."

"What does she do?" Scotty asked.

"She's a mechanic." Kyle said. "Hence needing to take her rings off while she's working if she wants to keep all her fingers."

"Unusual job for a women." Scotty commented. "How did she get into that?"

"She always says it was that or asking 'do you want fries with that?'" Kyle laughed.

"She was a history major." Warren explained. "She took a job at the garage to keep her going until she found a teaching job but after a while she found out she preferred to be a mechanic."

"It's so strange how you find the perfect career." Scotty said. "I started out as a cater waiter but meeting Kevin made me realise I wanted to do more with my life than that. Even after we broke up I kept pursuing that goal. I lost my apartment and ended up living in my car so that I could do but I managed it, I put myself through chef school. I got a job as a sous-chef, then head-chef, then Saul and I opened this place."

"You've done really well for yourself Scotty." Kyle told him truthfully. "But I have to ask, exactly how many times did you and Kevin break up before you were finally married?"

"There was that first time." Scotty said thoughtfully. "Then that other time, thought that was more a one night stand, then he offered me a place to live while I was living in my car. I seduced him with a lobster and champagne dinner, he broke up with Jason and we got together."

"That is quite a history." Warren said after a moment. "It's probably one of the more complicated I've heard, and that would be saying something."

"What about you two?" Scotty asked. "I know that you broke up, Kyle was moping all over Facebook about it for months, and then you're suddenly back together. I didn't ask at the time because of the stuff with me and Kevin."

"Kyle found out what I am." Warren said quietly enough that Saul and any other staff in the kitchen wouldn't overhear.

"I wouldn't have expected that to bother you that much." Scotty said with a look and frown at his friend.

"It wasn't the wolf thing." Kyle defended himself. "Our friend Mercy told me because Warren wouldn't, literally couldn't as I later found out. But the lies he's told me bothered me, a lot. So we split up and the longer we were separated the harder it was to go back."

"So what happened?" Scotty asked, looking between them like this was an instalment in a soap opera. Or the latest Walker fiasco.

"Without going into details, Warren was been a hero and got himself into serious trouble in the process." Kyle took Warren hand in his. "Life threating and when she thought he might die Mercy called me. I broke records and speed limits to get to him."

"I'm alright Kyle." Warren assured him. A deaf man could hear the distress in Kyle's voice and if Warren had been human then the grip his lover had on is hand would probably have broken fingers.

"You weren't." Kyle blinked back the tears that came from remembering just how close he had come to loosing Warren. "You died, your heart stopped and you weren't breathing. The fact that we brought you back doesn't change the fact you were dead for a minute there." Kyle took a deep breath and visibly composed himself. "After that, I knew I couldn't bear to lose him and as long as he never lies to me like that again I'm in this for life."

"You know I won't keep anything like that from you ever again." Warren reminded him and Kyle pressed a quick kiss to his cheek in acknowledgement.

"You two are like a romance novel." Scotty said with a dramatic sigh.

"They normally have less near death in them." Kyle pointed out.

"Some of them." There was the honk of a horn from outside. "Your cab is here." Scotty pointed needlessly. "You should go before he decides to drive off. I will see you both tomorrow at Nora's."

" "

Kyle and Warren presented themselves at Nora's front door at half past four the following day. "You know." Warren said after he rang the bell. "This kinda reminds me of your place."

"You mean our place." Kyle corrected firmly. The argument about Warren living with him, and finally getting rid of the apartment he never saw, was one he was determined to win. "Bet there are less naked statues, Nora didn't seem the type."

The door was opened by the lady in question at that moment. "The type to what?" She asked with a look at both of them.

"To have naked statues in your hallway." Kyle told her.

"What's this about naked statues?" Shouted a female voice from behind Nora.

She ushered her two guests inside. "Apparently I don't seem the type to have naked statues in my hallway."

"Well you didn't seem the type to get busted for pot either mom." A middle age woman walked in. "I'm Sarah."

"Kyle." He said offering his hand which she shook.

"Warren."

"Pleasure to meet you, so the question is which one of you has the naked statues?"

"Kyle." Warren told her. "He insists it's just because they came with the house but he'd hate to leave them behind if we moved."

"It's not that bad really." Kyle protested. "I put clothes on them."

"A hat is not considered clothes love." Warren pointed out reasonably.

"What about a hat not being clothes?" Kyle recognised the woman who walked in as Kitty, the widow of Senator Robert McAllister. He'd seen her quite fair bit on TV during the last president campaign.

"Apparently it's all a pair of naked statues at their house are wearing." Sarah filled her sister in.

"Now hold on a minute." Kyle protested holding up both his hands. "The female one is wearing perfectly normal clothes, my grandmother's sari actually."

"And a bonnet." Warren added helpfully, earning him a glare from Kyle.

"So the male one is wearing just a hat?" Sarah asked with a smirk.

"Well he did look very happy to see any visitors." Kyle said with a matching smirk. "I had to do something to make it decent."

"How does a hat make it decent?" Nora asked. "And what do you mean by happy?" The other four gave her a look as if they really couldn't believe she had asked that. Sarah caught her mother's eyes and looked significantly down. Nora blushed as she realised just what Kyle had meant. "Well I think that's quite enough of talk of interior design." She said turning to led them into the house.

Scotty met them at the door to the kitchen. "I wondered where Sarah and Kitty had disappeared to." He was wearing just his swim trunks and while he had better manners than to drip water all over Nora's kitchen his hair was still damp. "I'd introduce you but it seems they decided to ambush you instead."

"We were just discussing the interesting decorations in their hall way." Sarah still has a grin on her face.

"Oh Dick and Jane." Scotty said with a knowing air. "What are they wearing these days?"

"You knew about this?" Kitty asked in surprise.

"You Walkers need to get off your phones and on to Facebook occasionally."

"She's wearing a sari and he's wearing a knitted hat." Warren told him.

"Dick and Jane?" Nora asked. "You named your statues Dick and Jane?"

"Hey, I loved the film growing up." Kyle defended.

Scotty summed up what everyone was thinking. "Sure you did, now come with me and I'll show you where you can get changed and my lovely sister-in-laws can entertain Warren."

"Thanks." Warren muttered under his breath as Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the back garden.

"So I know you've already met Olivia." Sarah was saying. "The other one is my daughter Paige." She pointed to the two girls in the pool.

"The famous Paige." Warren said with a smile.

"Yes the family marriage counsellor." Sarah agreed just as a younger boy did a cannon ball into the pool very close to the girls causing them both the squeal. "The human cannon ball is my son Cooper, No cannon balls onto people!" She shouted at her son. Her voice caused the girls to look over and Olivia waved when she spotted Warren, who waved back.

"And this is my husband Luc." Sarah said introducing the well build and tanned man. "Who seems to have been left holding the babies, Daniel who I'm sure you've already met and Evan is Kitty's son. Luc this is Warren, Scotty's friend's boyfriend."

"And where is this Kyle?" Luc asked, his French accent obvious but not over powering.

"Getting changed." Warren told him. "I'm not big on swimming so I'm just going to watch."

"You will have plenty of company for that." Luc said with a look at his wife.

"Why don't I help with the boys so you can enjoy the pool?" Warren suggested.

"That would be good." Luc agreed. "Kitty and Sarah were supposed to helping until they heard you arrive and I have no idea where Kevin disappeared to."

"All right, all right." Sarah protested taking Daniel from her husband. "I just wanted to meet the guy who had Kevin tied in such knots." Luc said nothing but dove into the pool, swimming underwater until he was next to Cooper and scaring the young boy. "You know Kevin was horribly jealous of Kyle before you arrived."

"I did pick up on that." Warren said as he sat down on a lounger next to the one Sarah had picked. "But he never had anything to be bothered about; I don't share well, at least where Kyle is concerned."

"We all tried to tell him that but he never seemed to listen and seemed to have completely forgotten that Kyle was actually invited to their wedding but couldn't make it." She shook her head. "So where are you from originally? Scotty said the Tri-Cities in Washington but that's not a northern accent."

"Texas." Warren told her, after so long he'd become very used to the lies he needed to and the only time it had ever bothered him was when he had spoken those lies to Kyle. Mostly he stuck to truth but altered the timeframe. "My father was a rancher so I grew up herding cows."

"You said was." Sarah noted. "Is he dead?"

Yes. "I don't know." Warren said instead. "Neither of my parents approved of my being gay so I haven't seen or heard from them for a long time." That lie was always a little painful for the disrespect to at least his mother who, he suspected, had known that he wasn't like her other sons and would probably never marry. It had been over a hundred years since he had last seen any of his family.

"I'm sorry." Sarah said. "Most of this family were pretty accepting of Kevin, though dad and Tommy had a couple of issues but I know from Scotty that having parents that don't approve isn't easy."

"Kyle's parents are like that." Warren told her. "We've never met though I have met his sister. But when he first came out they ignored it, once he'd finished college he decided to force the issue. His father disinherited him and his mother still ignored it and tried to set him up with another young, rich, well connected girl. I think I prefer my lot."

"I can imagine." Sarah said with a grimace. "But I can't imagine doing that to either of my kids, they can be whatever they want to be so long as they're happy."

"You're lucky to have grown up in a family like that." Warren told her. "And they are even more lucky to have mother like you."

"If you weren't gay I'd think you were hitting on me."

"No ma'am, but nothing wrong with being appropriately complementary to a lady."

Sarah blushed then glanced over and spotted Scotty walk out with Kyle. "Hey Scotty, you should invite these guys down more often, I like Warren since unlike the rest of you he has some manners."

"Are you accusing us of having no manners?" Scotty asked, when Sarah didn't answer he looked at Kyle and shrugged. "If the shoe fits, last one in the pool has to kiss a girl!" It was hard to tell which of them was in the water first.

Sarah sighed as they started a water fight with Luc and Cooper. "Men never grow up do they?"

"No ma'am we just get taller." Warren replied but his eyes were fixed on Kyle, clearly enjoying the view, Sarah had to admit that she liked the excuse to watch Luc when he was all wet.

Kevin walked out, his cell still in hand and took the lounger on the other side of Sarah from Warren. "Oh good I haven't missed the entertainment."

"Kevin Walker!" Clearly Scotty had also heard that. "You did not just call us entertainment."

"I think he did." Luc put in. "And it looks as though Sarah agrees with him."

"Well there's a solution for that." Both Scotty and Luc pulled themselves out of the water and their respective other halves didn't stand a chance. In less than a minute, Luc and picked Sarah up and dropped her in the pool while Scotty caught Kevin and pushed him in.

Sarah and Kevin were both treading water and coughing it up at the same time while they glared at Warren who was still nice and dry on the lounger beside the pool. "How come he's not in here with us?" Sarah asked Kyle.

"Because when Warren says he doesn't swim he means it and as nice as the couch in our hotel suite is I don't fancy sleeping on it."

" "

Scotty couldn't help but notice the bite mark on Scotty's collarbone. He'd asked about it and Kyle had laughingly joked. "It was either a crazy lady or a zombie." Scotty had opted for the crazy lady explanation; he didn't want to consider the possibility that zombies were real. The fae and werewolves were enough in his opinion. He also didn't miss the thin scars that Kyle had on his stomach. Very thin and well healed, he probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't seen Kyle with his shirt off so often when the other man had lived in LA. And he was certain they hadn't been there when they had been lovers but he'd guess they were a year or so old.

They looked almost like knife wounds, except that they were parallel. Just about perfectly so, more accurate than would happen in a fight. To get scars the even Kyle would have to not resist. Or they were inflicted in one go. Like nail marks. Or claws, Scotty thought with a slightly uneasy look over at where Warren was talking to Kitty and Sarah while balancing Daniel on his knee.

No. Scotty told himself firmly. He would not jump to conclusions. He had absolutely no reason to suspect that Warren had inflicted those scars on Kyle. Warren being a werewolf and those scars possibly having come from a werewolf wasn't evidence. At least not the kind that would stand up in a court of law; though it would probably be enough for the anti-preternatural groups to burn Warren at the stake.

Scotty watched as Kyle pulled himself out of the pool and went over to Warren, kissing him and asking if he wanted a drink from inside. No, their body language didn't suggest that Warren would ever do anything to hurt Kyle and really Scotty should give his friend more credit than assuming that he would stay with someone abusive.

Still, Scotty thought to himself, maybe he would ask. He pulled himself out of the pool and followed Kyle into the kitchen. "You want a drink too?" Kyle asked when he saw him.

"No I'm good." Scotty told him. "But if I can talk Nora into letting you use her kitchen and we have the stuff in, do you feel like making chocolate brownies later?"

"I could maybe be persuaded into it." Kyle said with a grin that faded when he looked around and saw Scotty's face. "But you didn't follow me in here to ask me that did you?"

"I noticed the scars." Scotty told him gesturing to his chest. "You didn't have those the last time I saw you and they look like they were made by a predatory animal."

"Ask what you want to ask Scotty." Kyle said cutting right to the point.

"Are they from a werewolf?"

"Yes." Kyle said honestly. "But it takes a lot more than these scratches to change someone, I'm still human."

"Was it Warren?"

"It was an accident." Kyle said quickly.

"What?!" Scotty demanded, looking uneasily out at where Warren was still sitting with his family and baby son.

Kyle grabbed Scotty's arm and pulled him into the pantry. "Listen, what happened was an accident, it was when Warren was so badly hurt that we thought he might die. He changed forms and another wolf tried to restrain him before he hurt himself even more. Warren didn't appreciate it much, you have to understand he was acting on pure instinct and I got too close. I'm pretty sure he was trying to gut the other wolf but he only scratched me."

"Is he safe out there with Daniel?"

Kyle nodded. "There are some wolves I know that I wouldn't let around your family but Warren has the best control of anyone in his pack. What happened to me was due to bad luck and stupidity on my part, but it did teach me to never approach a newly changed or injured werewolf."

"I'll trust you on this Kyle because I know you and I know that you'd never do anything that would risk a child."

"What are you two doing in there?" Nora asked as she suddenly appeared in the doorway. "You're going to make Kevin paranoid again."

"We were just looking to see if you have the ingredients for chocolate brownies." Scotty said quickly. "Kyle has this old family recipe that is absolutely to die for but I've never been able to get it out of him."

"You cook?"

"Not professionally." Kyle demurred. "Or with enough speed to please Warren, but I do have a few good recipes and Scotty's right my grandmother made me swear that this recipe would only be passed on to my children."

"Well I think I can lone my kitchen out for a family recipe like that." Nora allowed. "But go outside for a while and have some fun. Justin just arrived with Taylor."

"Saul should be here soon." Scotty told her. "He just wanted to make sure that everything was set up for this evening at the restaurant, you know it's rare for us to both take the same night off."

"I know." Nora said. "Now go, you can come back in when it's time to cook dinner, I think Luc was planning on helping too, oh Kyle do you or Warren have any preferences?"

"Warren will eat pretty much whatever is put in front of him however it's put there." Kyle told her honestly. "I'm also not picky, I'm sure whatever you make will be wonderful Nora."

"Flatter." Nora said with a pleased smile. "Now go save Warren from the interrogation that my daughters are still putting him through."

"That was close." Scotty muttered very quietly to Kyle as they ducked out into the backyard. Scotty took a few moments to introduce Kyle to Justin and Taylor, who had also just met Warren, before he dove back into the pool to back up his daughter in a splash war that Cooper and Luc had started with her and Paige.

* * *

AN: Sorry the delay, a combo of coursework, lab work and reading Frost Burned. Oh and just plain old forgetting, sorry


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jonathan arrived with Saul and was introduced to Kyle and Warren. Kitty's boyfriend was running late but would try and make it for the meal part at least. Most of the men were messing around and everyone was having fun when Justin accidently knocked into Warren as he walked past. It would normally have been nothing but Warren then tripped over Cooper who was sitting on the side of the pool and both of them went into the water.

Kyle saw but was too far away to stop it from happening.

He immediately jumped into the water after his lover. Not only was Warren a werewolf who's muscles were too dense to allow him to float easily, or at all, in water but he's never learnt to swim properly as a child. There's been a creek near his parents' ranch and a pond but neither had been deep enough for swimming if you were over about five years old.

Warren was panicking; Kyle could see it and feel it. He caught one of Warren's flailing hands and clutched it tight then used his other hand to grab Warren's chin and turn his head so he was looking at him. His eyes were the bright gold of his wolf, not a good sign.

Fortunately Kyle kept enough of his wits, unlike Warren, to know that they weren't far from the steps and he tugged Warren in that direction, placing the hand he held on the metal of the ladder and then surfacing, gasping for breath. He looked around and saw all the Walkers were watching, Luc still holding Cooper who he'd obviously helped out of the water.

Before Kyle could say anything Warren's head broke the surface beside him, gasping and coughing up water. Kyle pulled himself out of the water and then helped Warren up the last couple of steps until he could collapse on the concrete surrounding the pool, still gasping and coughing up water.

Justin pushed his way through saying something about been sorry and been an EMT. Warren's head whipped round and he growled at Justin.

"No stay back." Kyle shouted, Warren's eyes were golden, he wasn't in full control of his wolf, he could attack Justin if the other man got too close. "Warren look at me." Kyle ordered and the wolf did so. "Everyone else go inside." Kyle said without taking his eyes from Warren's, he was the only one there who could do that without potentially deadly consequences. "We'll be fine we just need some time and space."

" "

When Scotty saw Warren fall in the pool his first though was 'oh shit' followed by 'I knew we couldn't keep this a secret'. That proved prophetic when Kevin answered Kitty's question about what they were so panicky about, everyone could at least float.

"No he can't." Kevin snapped back. "Warren is a werewolf, their muscles are too dense to float."

Everyone was shocked silent but that that moment Kyle surfaced again by the ladders followed a moment later by Warren who he helped out. Scotty saw Justin push his way though, his training as an army medic and EMT overriding any concerns he might have had about his patent been a werewolf.

Scotty remembered what Kyle had told him about getting his scars from an injured Warren and suddenly realised that Justin's instinct to help could be a very bad idea. It certainly looked that way because when Warren turned and growled at the younger man his eyes had changed colour to gold.

Kyle obviously knew what to do in these situations even if no one else did. He shouted at them all to keep back and then kept Warren's attention on him while telling them to go inside. Clearly he had no fear of his lover even when he was obviously slightly less than human as he was at that moment.

Scotty decided to take charge of the Walkers, since Kyle had Warren to deal with, and started ushering them back into the house with a skill borne of many, many nights spent working catering evens. Kevin saw what he was doing and started to do likewise.

"Don't worry Justin." Scotty told the youngest Walker as he guided him into the kitchen. "Kyle has experience at dealing with Warren when he's hurt, and from what I've heard leaving hurt wolves alone for a while is the best idea."

"You sure there's nothing I can do?" Justin asked as they paused just outside the kitchen door.

Scotty shook his head. "When a wolf is hurt they can be unpredictable." He didn't know that for certain but that was the impression he'd got from his earlier conversation with Kyle. "His instincts take over to help protect him, hence the gold eyes. Once he's sure that he, and Kyle, are safe he'll calm down."

"Speaking of calming down." Justin said turning to the door where a Walker argument had started. "Do you want to deal with that?"

"I better." Scotty said since Kevin was currently involved in a shouting match with Kitty. "Enough!" He said as he stepped into the room. "Kevin stop having a go at your sister for reacting exactly the same way you did at first. Kitty do you really think I would let either of them near Olivia and Daniel if I wasn't sure that they were safe?" A quick check showed Olivia was near the door with Saul and Daniel was in his grandmother's arms.

"Now." Scotty said lowering his voice since he had everyone's attention. "Warren needs us all to quiet down so he can calm down. Anyone who's worked with animals knows that they respond to your emotions right?" He looked around at the Walkers, who he knew had a dog growing up.

"He's right." Brody said, Scotty hadn't noticed him earlier and assumed he must have just arrived when everything kicked off.

"Warren is running on instinct more than thought at the moment since he just nearly drowned." Scotty pointed out. "And Kyle can help him get those instincts under control, but he won't be able to do that as long as Warren thinks we might be a danger to him or Kyle." He looked around the room. "And he can hear every word we're saying in here."

All the adults started talking at once again, but this time it was asking Kevin and Scotty questions. It was at a more reasonable volume but it did mean that Olivia, still standing next to the back door was the only one who heard the cell phone ringing. It was outside but much nearer the door than Warren and Kyle who were still sitting by the pool, so the second time it rang she decided to risk it and ran out to grab it. "Hello." She said when she answered it. "Kyle's phone."

"Who is this?" Asked the woman on the other end. "Where are Kyle and Warren? Why isn't Warren answering his phone?"

"It was probably in his pocket when he fell in the pool. Kyle and Warren are over by the pool but I'm not allowed over cause it's not safe." Olivia said. "I can give the phone to my dad?"

"That would be a good idea sweetheart." Said the woman on the other end.

"Okay." Olivia said. "Give me a minute." Olivia pushed her way through the adults in the kitchen until she got to Scotty's side. She tugged on his arm. "Kyle's phone was ringing and a woman is asking what's happening to him and Warren."

Scotty took the phone from her. "This is Scotty Wandel, Kyle's friend. Who am I talking to?"

"Mercy Thompson-Hauptman and my husband Adam is listening it." Mercy told him. "What happened? Your daughter said Warren fell in the pool?"

"An accident." Scotty told her. "And I should tell you now that I know what Warren is, as does everyone else in the house so I know how dangerous a pool is for him."

"How is he now?" Asked a man who Scotty assumed was Adam, Warren's alpha. "I felt his panic and fear."

Scotty decided to wait until later to question that last statement. "Kyle went in after him and helped pull him out then sent us all into the house out of the way. Warren's eyes were gold."

"That's not good." Mercy told him what Scotty had easily guessed. "We really need to talk to Kyle, if Warren loses it there's no one in LA that can contain him, I think."

"There isn't." Adam agreed in the background.

"I don't think my going out there is a good idea." Scotty pointed out.

"Not with your history with Kyle and the fact Warren isn't all there at the moment." Mercy agreed while Olivia pulled on Scotty's sleeve and pointed to herself.

"My daughter is ten; would it be safe for her to take Kyle his phone?" Scotty asked. "Warren isn't likely to see her as a threat."

"His control is good enough normally." Mercy agreed, Adam said something to her but Scotty couldn't make it out. "Alright but she needs to be careful and do as she's told."

"You have to do exactly as Mercy says." Scotty said as he handed the phone back to Olivia. He met Kevin's questioning gaze and silently asked his husband to trust him. Several of his in-laws were looking at him like he was crazy.

"Alright." Olivia said and took the phone.

"Olivia, I want you to walk over slowly and stop when you get half way." Mercy told her over the phone. "Are you scared?"

"A little bit, but Warren won't hurt me." Olivia told her.

"Good, when you get half way tell Warren and Kyle what you're doing and why."

Olivia stopped at the halfway point and called out. "Kyle I have your phone, it was ringing so I answered it, sorry. There's a lady called Mercy wanting to talk to you. Can I bring your phone over for you?"

Kyle looked at her for a moment and then at Warren and held his eyes for a moment before the werewolf nodded. "Okay Olivia." Kyle said. "But I want you to slowly come to me not Warren and don't be afraid, Warren won't hurt you, be brave."

Warren muttered something that Olivia couldn't hear. She did as she was told and walked slowly but not like she was scared. Brody and Grandma Nora had told her that dogs knew if you were scared of them and that scared them too. Not that Warren was a dog, except that everyone seemed to be talking about him like he was rather than the guy who'd helped set up the restaurant bar.

"Here you go." Olivia said when she was close enough to hand Kyle his phone. Warren looked up at the sound of her voice and she met his bright gold eyes.

"Drop your eyes." Kyle hissed to her. "He might think you want to fight him." Olivia quickly looked at the floor, been in care for years had taught her when to fight and when she wouldn't have a hope of winning.

"Good girl, now walk slowly back to the house." Kyle told her. "Do not run." That instruction Olivia also understood from been in care, if she ran then she would be seen as weak, prey.

When she got back to the house Scotty was the only one waiting for her at the door. "Well done sweetheart." He told her as he hugged her.

"Where is everyone?" Other than Scotty the kitchen was deserted.

"In the lounge." Scotty told her and took her hand to led her that way. "I convinced them that giving the guys some privacy was a good idea."

" "

Kyle watched until Olivia was safely back with Scotty before turning his attention to the phone she'd given him. Warren's eyes had also followed the girl but he hadn't moved from where he was knelt so Kyle wasn't too worried.

"Hello Mercy." Kyle said.

"What happened?" Mercy demanded. "We felt Warren's panic and fear through the pack bonds."

"Someone knocked into Warren as he was walking past the pool, he then tripped over a young boy and ended up in the water. I went in after him and helped pull him out. He spent a few minutes coughing up a gallon or two of water and he's now trying to get control over his wolf."

"How is he?" Adam asked.

"Just after we got out of the pool he growled at Justin for getting too close but he didn't seem to have a problem with Olivia just now." Kyle reported, knowing that Warren could easily hear both sides of the conversation. "The Walkers, the family we're visiting, were talking and that seemed to be agitating him but Scotty got them to shut up."

"How are you doing Warren?" Adam asked his wolf directly.

"Been better boss." Warren's voice was still a little deeper than normal. "Been a while since I've done that and pool water tastes terrible."

"Better than sea water or the Columbia." Adam told him. "Are you having a problem with control?"

"I think I'm okay." Warren told him and Kyle noticed that the gold had started to fade. "I think it was just the near drowning and then Kevin's family were a little shocked to find out they'd spent the afternoon with a werewolf, I think I might have been worried they were a threat. Scotty and Kevin seem to have got the calmed down.

"You don't feel as agitated." Adam agreed slowly. "But distance weakens the pack bonds."

"They didn't feel that weak a few minutes ago." Mercy muttered more to herself than anyone else.

"I think a bit longer and I'll be fine boss." Warren told him. "Kyle helped, a lot. If it hadn't been for him I'd probably have drowned or hurt someone."

"Love you too." Kyle pressed a kiss to Warren's forehead.

"Eww, they're getting mushy." Mercy laughed on the other end of the phone. "That's our cue to hang up but call if there's any more problems, okay?"

"We will." Kyle agreed.

"You'll have to call Kyle's cell until we get back." Warren said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell.

"Olivia told us that it went swimming with you." Mercy told them. "I'll get you a new one sorted and transfer your phone number over. I've had a lot of experience with it."

"At least I didn't sit on it." Warren pointed out and they said their good byes before hanging up.

"Are you feeling up to heading inside?" Kyle asked. "I feel a bit bad that Scotty and Kevin are bearing the brunt of the inquisition."

"Kitty wasn't happy." Warren told him. "Sarah was shocked, so was Nora but she's more worried about me nearly drowning. Justin is reserving judgment for the moment, so is Luc. Saul and Jonathan are also waiting to talk to us more before they get judgemental."

"That's pretty much all as expected." Kyle said when Warren had finished reporting the conversation he'd overheard. "After all Kitty is a Republican. Ready to go in?"

"Give me a few more minutes." Warren said but he moved to that he was sitting next to Kyle rather than across from him and wrapped his arm around him. "Thank you."

"You named me your mate." Kyle reminded him. "I think that means I'm supposed to do whatever I can to keep you safe. And I love you." They kissed for a long while before Warren pulled away with a sigh, his eyes back to their usual colour.

"We should go inside." He rose and then offered Kyle a hand to pull him to his feet. The sun had just about taken care of the water on their skin but Warren's jeans and boots were still soaked. He took his boots off at the door but kept his jeans on; as a werewolf modesty was not something he really had, changing meant you were naked, but he didn't know these people and there were children around so he wasn't running round in just his boxers which were also soaked.

He took Kyle's hand and led him to the lounge where his hearing told him all the Walker clan had gathered. They all turned to look at them. "So should we get our stuff and go?" Kyle asked to try and ease the tension.

"Of course not." Nora said, immediately rising to her feet from where she had been sitting on one of the sofas. "Warren, why don't you come with me and we'll find you some dry clothes, I'm sure one of my boys must have left some clothes here that will fit you. Then I can put yours through the laundry while we make a start on dinner."

She looked around the rest of the room. "Actually Scotty would you mind making a start on dinner, I'm sure Luc and Kyle can give you a hand for a few minutes. And Kevin you open a couple of bottles of wine, I think we're going to need it."

"Can we go back in the pool now?" Paige asked.

"Of course you can love." Nora told her. "In face the rest of you should head back outside and get some more sun, you're all still looking a little pale." She added as she gestured for Warren to follow her.

"I don't think lack of sun is the reason for that mom." Kitty muttered.

Nora stuck her head back into the room having obviously heard her. "Outside now, get some vitamin D; it'll be good for you."

Paige, Cooper and Olivia didn't need telling twice, Evan squirmed out of his mother's arms and toddled after his cousins forcing Kitty to follow and Sarah went as well.

"If we're cooking we should probably put some clothes on." Scotty pointed out to Luc and Kyle as all three were still in just their swim wear. Justin and Taylor hadn't wasted any time in getting back in the pool either and Saul and Jonathan had also disappeared before they too could be pressed into service.

The three men quickly dressed and found Kevin in the kitchen with two open bottles of wine, one red and the other white. "Such a shame Kitty can't drink because I think she needs this most." Kevin said as he poured glasses.

"Why can't she drink?" Kyle asked.

"She's pregnant." Kevin told him. "So at least its temporary for her, Justin on the other hand almost never drinks since he's a recovering addict."

"Do you feel like sharing anyone else's secrets today Kevin?" Luc asked.

"Just evening it out a little since we now know a huge secret about Warren." Kevin said as he handed his brother-in-law his glass. "I'll take this out for Sarah and see what the other three want."

"Kyle why don't you start with the brownies?" Scotty suggested. "Sugar helps with shock and it'll tide everyone over until dinner."

"Alright." Kyle agreed. "How many do the kids tend to eat each? I'd like a couple left over for us adults too."

"They aren't too bad." Scotty told him.

"But Paige is diabetic." Luc reminded him.

"I think I can manage a way around that." Kyle said as he headed into the pantry to find the ingredients he needed.

" "

"Are you sure you're alright?" Nora asked Warren for the third time, he'd just stepped out of the bathroom after a shower to get the pool water out of his hair and had only a towel around his waist and a second one in his hand. Nora didn't seem to notice how little he was wearing.

"I'm fine ma'am really." Warren told her, he was starting to see what her children meant by adopting anyone in the vicinity. "But I think I'll avoid the pool for the rest of the day if it's all the same to you."

"Why didn't you tell us what you are?" Nora asked. "Justin would have been more careful if he'd known you literally couldn't swim instead of just not knowing how to."

"Not everyone reacts as well as you did Nora." Warren told her as towelled the worst of the water out of his hair. "Kitty still isn't very happy."

"It took Kitty a while to get over Kevin been gay." Nora said. "She's a republican what can I say?"

"Thank you for what you said to her." Warren said.

Nora frowned. "When?"

"When she was arguing with Kevin, before Scotty came in, you told her to stop being so judgemental."

"You heard that?" Nora was surprised.

"Acute senses are a blessing and a curse." Warren said with a shrug. "But I take the good with the bad."

"Because you don't have a choice." Nora said. "That's what they were saying in the papers, that werewolves don't choose to be what they are, you were forced into this."

"I was." Warren said. "There was a rogue werewolf, for us that's like a serial killer, rare but still out there." I was attacked and nearly died. I survived but the next full moon I found out the cost of that survival."

"I'm so sorry."

"I was too but I learnt to let go it pretty quickly because otherwise I would end up hating myself and that would be self-destructive." Warren shrugged. "I can't do anything about it."

Nora looked down and suddenly seemed to realise that she was holding some clothes. "Here I brought these for you; I think they were Justin's at one point."

"Thank you." Warren told her. "I'll just get dried off and changed before I come down."

That was when Nora finally seemed to notice that Warren was only wearing a towel. "Ah, yes I'll just leave you too it then." She said as she quickly backed herself out of the room but as she headed downstairs she swore she heard Warren chuckling to himself.

She found her two son-in-laws and Kyle at work in the kitchen, Scotty and Luc were starting on the dinner preparations while Kyle seemed to be making the brownies he'd mentioned earlier. "Nora I hope you don't mind but I ask Kyle to make those brownies now to feed to the rabble while we cook."

"No, no, not at all, that sounds like a very good idea." Nora said as she quickly made her way over to the counter and took her place as the head cook in her kitchen. "It might even keep Justin's fingers off the ingredients."

"Well I wouldn't hope for miracles Nora." Luc said. "I doubt even chocolate brownies can manage that."

"Oh you haven't tried these brownies." Scotty told him. "If I thought any sort of bribery would get the recipe out of him I'd have tried."

"My grandmother made me swear to only teach it to my children and otherwise take the secret to my grave." Scotty said with a shrug.


	7. Chapter 7

The brownies were a hit, Kyle slapped Warren's hand when he tried to take two at a time and did the same thing to Justin for exactly the same reason a few moments later. Paige hung back, a little jealous that everyone was stuffing their faces with chocolate brownies and she couldn't have one.

"Paige!" Kyle had to shout to get her attention over the general rabble of the Walkers, and others since Jonathan had reappeared with Saul seemingly out of nowhere once there was food on offer. Kyle reached for a plate of brownies he had set to one side; Paige had assumed they were for him or maybe Warren.

"These are for you." He told her. "And the rest of the batch are hidden well enough that only Warren might find them and he knows better." Kyle smiled. "Later in life my grandmother was diabetic but she still loved her brownies, I wouldn't recommend too many of them but these should be safe enough for you to eat without risking a trip to the ER."

"Really?" Paige asked, excitedly looking down at the plate she was now holding.

"Really." Kyle promised her. "We were just lucky Nora had the extra ingredients in that I needed, they should taste like normal brownies."

Paige picked one up and took a bite. "They do!" Things intended to be for diabetics didn't always taste like the 'normal' versions did, as she had found out from bitter experience. "Thank you." She grinned at him before taking her plate outside where Kyle was sure she would jealously guard it from everyone else.

" "

After everyone had helped themselves to the brownies, Warren headed back outside while Kyle stayed inside to help Nora cook. He'd said that since he'd brought a werewolf, and the werewolf's appetite, the least he could do was help make the food to feed them. Warren had shrugged but accepted the extra brownie Kyle handed him and then allowed himself to be shooed out of the kitchen without complaint.

He picked a lounger that was in the shade, LA was just a little too warm for his tastes and picked up his current paperback, a murder mystery thriller that was well enough written that he hadn't figured out the ending yet (as he had at the half way point in the last one).

"So is there anything you lied to us about earlier?" Sarah asked as she sat down on the lounger next to him, Kitty was on the one beyond that and trying to look like she wasn't listening in.

"It was all true ma'am I just left out the wolf part." Warren told her.

"So you're obviously not some perverted deviant out to murder our children in their sleep." Sarah pointed out. "Or if you are you're very good at hiding it."

"No." Warren told her. "I like children, most wolves do, in the over protective big brother sort of way." He hastily put in. "My Alpha's daughter Jesse complains about it fairly constantly."

"Oh?" Sarah asked. "How old is she?"

"Almost sixteen." Warren told her. "When her father married a few weeks ago he left her in the care of a married couple, both wolves, and she complained that she didn't need babysitters, when her father insisted they were bodyguards she pointed out that bodyguards don't get to tell the person they're guarding when to go to bed."

Sarah laughed. "She sounds like a handful."

"She can be, but mainly her idea of rebelling is to dye her hair." He frowned. "In the last year it's been green, pink, purple, blue and what she assured me was called 'bubblegum', I didn't ask."

"That must have looked good on the wedding pictures." Kitty spoke up.

"Oh she dyed it back to her natural colour for the wedding, though I teased her that she'd had to check old photographs to remember what it had been." Warren said with a laugh. "And it didn't even last a week, by the time Kyle and I were called in to chaperone her date with her boyfriend it was orange with glittery strings in." He shook his head in bemusement. "Her hair is generally colours that are only found in a bottle or on a fae."

"You know fae?" Sarah asked with interest.

"A few, I've even seen the odd one without their glamour, not something you're ever likely to forget."

"I can imagine." Sarah agreed, she had never seen a fae without glamour, the magic that allowed them to look like a human, but she'd heard descriptions of what they looked like.

At that moment Paige ran over with a plate that still had a brownie on it. "Mom can you please look after this for me?" She begged. "Kyle made it especially for me but Cooper keeps trying to steal it."

"Alright." Sarah said taking it from her. "But you know you aren't supposed to have things like this too often."

"I know mom but Kyle made that especially so I could." She obviously decided that her mom was just going to keep talking and dashed back into the pool before she could.

"What was that about?" Sarah asked, looking from her daughter to Warren and then the plate.

"May I?" Warren asked holding his hand out for the plate. When Sarah handed it to him he took a sniff of the brownie before handing it back. "That's not his usually brownie recipe, it has something different in, something that means she can eat it, I'm guessing she's diabetic?"

Sarah nodded and took the plate back, setting it on the small table next to her. "You can tell?"

"If I was close enough to her at the right time I could probably scent it." Warren admitted. "If I knew what I was looking for, I know a wolf who can scent things like that." Samuel was a doctor but there was no way he was telling any of the Walkers about that. "But I guessed mainly from the way you were talking, it was the most obvious reason."

"Warren can I ask you something?" Kitty sat up so she could see him over her sister, giving up all pretences of not listening. "The media have been telling us that werewolves do the whole serve and protect thing, which I know is spin-doctoring I was in politics. But it also says that you 'police your own', what does that mean?"

"The same thing it means to the Fae." Warren told her. "We deal with our own trouble-makers."

"How?" She pressed. "I can't imagine imprisoning one of you is easy."

"Silver bars will do the trick." Warren admitted. "But it isn't practical. Minor offences will get a physical beating, serious offences are usually fatal."

"Fatal?" Sarah asked. "You mean you'd be killed for breaking the law?"

"Yes." Warren admitted. "And before last year that meant telling people what you were, a law that almost cost me Kyle."

"You mean you aren't allowed to tell anyone what you are even after you were married?" Sarah asked. "Well that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"You could tell them after your married." Warren corrected her. "But not before."

"So you didn't want to marry Kyle just so you could tell him?" Kitty asked.

"In a heartbeat." Warren assured her. "But the law actually states that a wolf is only allowed to tell his wife after he's married."

"They don't recognise gay relationships." Kitty surmised.

"Well that's backwards." Sarah protested.

"The law was made over a hundred years ago." Warren told them, leaving out the part where the real issue was the very old werewolves who generally enforced such laws. "At that point they locked you up for sodomy, unless they decided to save time and lynch you outright." And there was something he didn't miss.

"But who makes these laws?" Sarah asked, "I thought alphas were the ones in charge."

"There's been speculation about someone above the alphas." Kitty thoughtfully. "Someone controlling them and pulling the strings, an alpha of alphas." She looked at Warren inquiringly.

Warren felt back into a corner, at least somewhat, Bran's position was not exactly a secret if you asked in the right circles but his name certainly was. "There is." He admitted. "But can we talk about it later? Once I've remembered how much I'm allowed to tell you, because the penalties are still severe." He didn't tell her that since they revealed themselves werewolves had become even stricter in their enforcement of their laws, and he was really hoping she'd forget all about it.

"Alright." Sarah allowed. "But we are defiantly talking more later."

"Once the children aren't around." Warren allowed, so much for hoping she'd forget. "There are parts that young ears should not hear."

"Well we better send Justin to bed early then." Sarah said with a laugh.

"I heard my name and laughing Sarah." Justin shouted from where he was laid with Taylor on the opposite side of the pool on a pair of towels. "I'm offended on principle."

Sarah and Kitty both laughed. "Just calling you our baby brother Justin." Sarah shouted back.

"Less of the baby!" Was the reply that only made the sisters laugh more.

"Do you have any siblings Warren?" Kitty asked.

"I did." Warren told her sadly. In truth they, their children and their children's children were all probably long dead now. "I had a baby sister, she was about fourteen years younger than me and I was very protective of her."

"Do you ever see her now?" Sarah asked.

Warren shook his head. "I can never go home." He told them softly and let then draw their own conclusions. Let them assume that his family disapproved of his sexuality or been a werewolf rather than the truth, that he could only visit his baby sister at her grave. Not that he even knew where it was.

"Well that's a conversation killer." Sarah said after a minute or two of silence. "New topic, so what's it like been a PI? Any good stories?"

" "

In the kitchen Kyle, Scotty and Luc were all working under Nora's direction. "Do you think we have too much food?" She asked looking at the plates that covered the kitchen counters.

"Nora there are over fifteen of us." Luc pointed out.

"And Warren." Kyle told her. "I wasn't joking about how much a werewolf eats, you should see Sunday brunch at the alpha's house. The guy doing the cooking is in there all morning and produces enough to feed a small school." Nora looked at him as though she didn't quite believe him. "I'm serious." He insisted. "Warren could eat a fair chunk of this on his own."

"He's telling the truth Nora." Scotty put in. "At the restaurant Warren go through a starter and a half since he had some of Kyle's, two main courses and two desserts."

"He was debating a third, but I talked him out of it." Kyle added. "We visit quite a few all you can eats." He added to Nora.

She threw up her hands. "Fine I'll believe you, but if there's left overs you're taking them home."

"I bet we end up ordering pizza later." Kyle whispered to Scotty. "It's barely five. I'm sure Warren will be hungry again before ten."

"It's a good thing you're such a hot shot lawyer, I dread to think what your grocery bill is like."

They started to carry the platters of food out to the tables that Nora had roped her brother and Jonathan into setting up. "No eating until it's all out." She shouted firmly as she set the first tray down. "Kids, out of the pool and dry off, no one who's dripping gets to eat and that includes you Justin!" She added since her youngest had decided to jump in the pool the second she called her grandkids out of it.

Once all the food was out everyone grabbed a plate and dug in. Taylor, Jonathan and Brody were a little restrained, not been as used to Walker dinners as Luc and Scotty. Kyle also held back a little but Warren dug right in and seated himself close to the buffet table, to makes seconds, and thirds, easier to acquire.

The adults settled themselves in groups around the pool while the kids drifted between the different groups, mainly to find those who hadn't heard their latest adventures yet.

"Kinda reminds me of growing up." Kyle said, he was leaning back against Warren and only protested slightly when Warren made him move so he could get more of the delicious food that was rapidly disappearing from the table.

"Not from the way you've always described it to me." Warren replied.

"I usually let my later memories get in the way, but when I was a little younger than Cooper, this is what it was like to me. I was still my parents' son, I hadn't disappointed them yet."

"If I was running round like this at party when I was their age I'd have been in trouble." Warren admitted, none of the humans were close enough to overhear him talking about a time that was far too long ago for him to remember if he was actually the age he claimed. "If I was doing it in doors anyway, but at least no one was expecting me to be courting the girls when I was that age, they didn't really start with that until I was eighteen. Then I was expected to dance with all the girls at the parties but by then I'd realised that I didn't want a wife and since there was no way I could have what I wanted without getting myself lynched, I decided I'd just be alone for ever."

Kyle twisted around so he was facing Warren and kissed him. "You aren't alone anymore, and I could almost thank the rouge that changed you, otherwise you'd have been long dead before I was even born."

"It was a long wait but worth it." Warren agreed. "I think my mother knew in her heart that I was different from my brothers, when I didn't find a girl in a year or two she seemed to accept that I wouldn't and told people she was happy for me to remain her son, that my brothers and sisters were giving her grandchildren enough. That was the closest to acceptance the age would allow."

"You were lucky. I made it through college before my mother started pressing the issue." Kyle told him. "Until then I could pretend I wanted to 'focus on my studies'. It was a good excuse but it didn't take me long to get tired of her pushing the issue once I'd graduated."

"And you pushed back and there was a huge argument." Warren finished, he'd heard that part of the story before.

"That was good though." Kyle said. "Because if I hadn't been trying to get away from my family I might not have moved to the Tri-Cities and met you. Amazing how something that seems bad at the time can lead to something so good." Kyle said and kissed him again.

They broke apart when they heard someone clearing her throat and turned to see Sarah. "Sorry to interrupt." She said, her amusement was very clear in her voice. "But I wanted to ask Kyle something."

Kyle shifted a little away from Warren and swung his legs off the end of the lounger to make space for her to sit down, which she did. "What is it Sarah?"

"Paige told me you made her some special brownies?"

"Yes." Kyle explained. "My grandmother loved brownies but became diabetic later in life so she found a way she could still enjoy them. It wouldn't be a good idea for Paige to eat too many of them, any more than it would be for Cooper to eat too many of the normal ones, but they will be safe enough for a treat."

"Thank you." Sarah told him. "She hasn't had brownies since she was diagnosed because we've never been able to find a recipe that was safe for her."

Nora had drifted over when she heard the topic had turned to cooking. "I tried." She told them, pulling up a chair. "But apparently I never could get it to taste right without using brown sugar and we didn't want to risk her health."

"From what she told me my grandmother went through a lot of trial and error to get that recipe." Kyle said. "She once made me swear that I would never give it to anyone but my children, however I think she might forgive for giving it to you." He said to Nora. "One grandmother's cookbook to another, the diabetic recipe only for Paige so she can still have her brownies."

Nora and Sarah breamed at him. "I think I can agree to that." Nora said. "But Scotty is going to be jealous, he thought nothing would get the recipe out of you."

"Sympathy, and I think my grandmother would approve since I'm never going to have children."

"You might do." Nora protested. "Look at Kevin and Scotty."

"Neither of whom is a werewolf." Kyle reminded them. "Gay rights might have made it that far but I don't think werewolf rights will in my lifetime." He felt Warren tense behind him and took his hand. "And I am happy to just have Warren, children would be nice but it's him I need to be happy."

"You know I feel the same." Warren told him. "But would you mind moving far enough so I can get some more of the wonderful food Nora has cooked?"

Kyle laughed. "Never get between a werewolf and his next meal." But he did move enough to let Warren off the lounger.

Sarah went back to where he had been sitting, on the way she passed where Scotty was talking with Justin. "We just got Kyle's brownie recipe out of him." She said in a sing song voice.

Scotty stared at her. "No way! How did you mange that?"

"Well mom did." Sarah allowed remembering that Kyle had promised the recipe to her 'as one grandmother to another'. "Apparently sympathy is better than any bribe you can offer."

"He's giving Nora the recipe for Paige's brownies?" Scotty guessed and he was glad, he had been planning on trying to talk the recipe out of Kyle for the sake of his niece but clearly his in-laws had beaten him too it. And he probably wouldn't have been as successful.

Sarah just grinned and headed back to where she'd left Luc discussing something with Brody, though what the two of them had in common, besides her, she didn't know. While she made her way over she thought of something she'd overheard. Warren had been talking to Kyle about his childhood, and she didn't think he realised she could over hear him. The life he talked about didn't sound like anything from the present time. The extreme homophobia and talk of lynching, combined with his use of 'courting' made it sound like another century all together. Were werewolves like the Fae and immortal? Kyle had said that Warren would have been dead long before they met he hadn't been changed into a werewolf. Sarah decided to think on it a little more before saying anything. And Luc and Brody were so involved in their discussion that they didn't notice she wasn't taking part.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Despite Nora's fears there weren't any leftovers, a fact that was not entirely due to Warren though he certainly helped. After everyone had eaten the two youngest children were very sleepy so Kitty and Kevin decided to put them down for a nap in the guest room Nora had converted into a temporary nursery quite a while ago. The older three decided to watch a movie and, after much debate, which had to refereed by Luc, they settled on Shrek. Something grown up enough to appease Paige but not girly, which was Cooper's contribution to the discussion, the actual suggestion had been Olivia's.

With the kids settled in Nora's bedroom, and under dire threats about what would happen if they woke Evan or Daniel, the adults opened a couple more bottles of wine and rearranged the pool and garden furniture so that they could all talk together. Or properly interrogate Warren and Kyle.

"So." Sarah started. "Warren started telling me something earlier about why he wasn't allowed to tell Kyle he was a werewolf before last year, do you want to finish that story?"

"Do I have a choice?" Warren asked. There were various noises and gestures from around the group that indicated the answer to that was a negative.

"The law was that you could only tell your partner after you were married." Kyle told the whole group. "Which is a recipe for giving me more work."

"The law is on old one." Warren added. "From when divorce was stigmatised. But that was still the rule and gay wolves so rare that no one thought to take it into account. Because of the secrets I was forced to keep I almost lost Kyle."

"A friend of ours told me, Mercy who called earlier. She wasn't bound by pack laws." Kyle told them. "But I was angry about him lying to me so we broke up for a while."

"Why could Mercy tell you but Warren couldn't?" Justin asked.

"A werewolf cannot break his Alpha's decree and Adam had to obey the law as well so he couldn't give me permission to tell Kyle. If the others has found out I'd told him they would have killed us both and claimed they were just trying to protect the secret of our existence."

"So how did this Mercy get away with it?" Nora asked.

"She's not a wolf and not bound by our laws." Warren told them. "She is also under the protection of a higher power than Adam, the Marrok."

"I'm guessing you don't mean King Arthur's werewolf knight in legend?" Luc asked and got a few looks of surprise from around the circle that he would know that. "The old ballads are a type of art, I learnt them in school."

"It's a title." Warren explained. "One we give to our Alpha of Alphas." He looked at Kitty. "You were right about that but I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about it, his existence isn't officially known and I'm defiantly not telling you his actual name."

"Is he the one who enforced the rule about telling after marriage?" Kevin asked, when Kyle and Warren had them about that part they had left out the Marrok.

"He is." Warren admitted. "But gay werewolves are very rare and until recently barely tolerated let alone accepted."

"What do you mean by that?" Jonathan asked.

"There's no closet for werewolves." Kyle told him. "They can scent arousal and it brings out the fighting instinct in males, a male who is attracted to other men could cause a lot of fights."

"The fear was that it would destabilise a pack." Warren took over. "No Alpha would risk the wellbeing of his pack for a single wolf, so gay wolves were ostracised from the pack structure and forced to live alone."

"What changed?" Saul asked. "You have a pack."

"An Alpha took a chance." Warren said with a smile. "Adam didn't care where my preferences lay so long as I could follow orders. Not all of the pack were happy about it, they still aren't, but it showed that a gay wolf could be part of a pack without the pack falling apart. There are one or two others now who have been accepted. It's not perfect but it's better."

"And I'm accorded that same level of respect as any of the other wolves' wives would be." Kyle continued. "At least by the Alpha and the wolves who are friends with Warren."

"Which means they know to call him when I get in trouble, again." Warren said.

"You do that a lot do you?" Nora asked.

Warren shrugged. "Not by choice." Everyone laughed.

"So Warren how old are you?" Sarah asked. "Because I overheard you two talking and from what you were saying you're a lot older than the thirty you look."

"How did you over hear that?" Warren asked with a frown, he had been sure that none of them were close enough to hear.

Sarah shrugged. "I've always had good hearing, and Paige and Cooper do too. Ears of a bat I swear!" She laughed and so did the rest of her family so no one but Kyle noticed Warren frown at her again. "So like I said, how old are you? Because that talk of courting and lynching makes me think you're a little older than us, well except for them maybe." She waved in the direction of her parents, Saul and Jonathan.

Kyle looked to Warren and raised his eyebrow in question, it was Warren's choice if he wanted to tell them the truth. Warren sighed, this was going to cause him trouble whatever he did. The Walkers seemed able to detect a lie like a wolf at times and the truth might get him a visit from Charles Cornick if they blabbed it around, and recently no one saw Charles unless he was going to kill someone from breaking the law.

"You are not allowed to talk about this to anyone outside this group, or anywhere that someone might overhear." Warren warned them. "In fact you should probably never speak of it again, because if someone finds out and uses it against the wolves it will come back on me and the penalty will be brutal."

"He means fatal." Kyle corrected. "He is trusting you with his life for telling you this."

Warren let everyone absorb that for a sombre moment before he continued. "And you're wrong Sarah, I'm a fair bit older than even they are." He nodded to the older generation.

"There's been some talk at the hospital." Justin said. "A suggestion that your ability to heal might mean you live longer by slowing the aging process."

"The change stops and even reverses the aging process." Warren admitted.

"You're immortal?" Kitty asked

"We can still be killed." Warren told her. "Average live expectance after the change is less than ten years, older wolves are rare, I'm the second oldest wolf in my pack. Just because time doesn't touch our bodies don't mean it doesn't also touch our minds."

"He means older wolves sometimes go crazy or suicidal." Kyle interpreted. "It happened to someone we know last year but luckily our friend Mercy found something to pull him out of his depression."

"So how old are you Warren?" Taylor asked.

"Let's say I was born in the nineteenth century and leave it at that, otherwise I'll start feeling my age."

Everyone stared at him in shock. He was over a hundred years old, well over from the way he was talking.

"How old is the oldest werewolf?" Nora finally asked, still trying to absorb the fact that a man who looked the same age as her youngest was in fact old enough to be at least her grandfather.

Warren shrugged. "We honestly don't know. You have to understand that the older you get the less wolves there are, in my pack there's only two of us who are over a hundred."

"How old?" Nora pressed.

Warren sighed. "We really aren't sure; time hasn't always been recorded well for people who aren't nobility so we have no idea for certain when the oldest wolves were born." And most of the oldest of the stories that might give an idea of their ages had passed from legend, often to the relief of the wolf in question. "But at least fifteen hundred years for one of the oldest and we're pretty sure the Marrok is older yet."

And there was the shocked silence again, Kyle thought to himself. He really hoped he had stared open mouthed like that when Warren had told him that bit but truthfully he knew he probably had.

"That is very old." Scotty finally said. It was stating the obvious but it did break the silence. "And adds a whole new meaning to the phrase 'cradle-snatcher'." He poked Kevin. "No more complaining about our age gap, at least it's not into triple digits." From the way he talked about it, Scotty was fairly sure Warren wasn't from the end of the eighteen-hundreds but nearer the middle or even start.

"Even if you aren't as old as some of the other werewolves, you must have seen a lot of changes." Jonathan put in.

"Technological and social." Warren agreed. "I would never have imagined what Scotty and Kevin have when I was their age."

"Neither did we." Saul pointed out.

"Yes but we did have the point where we were starting to be accepted." Jonathan pointed out. "Even if all the free love attitude left us with an unfortunate aftermath, but Warren lived through a time when it wasn't even slightly accepted to love other men."

"That wasn't much fun." Warren agreed.

"I'd love to be able to talk to you about that sometime." Jonathan continued. "To have a first-hand account of the social changes as it were."

"I'd be happy to, maybe while Kyle's surfing this weekend, unless you're planning on joining in?"

"Ah, no, I think I'm a little told old for learning that trick." Jonathan said with a laugh.

Justin looked like he was about to object, probably to insist that no one was too told to learn to surf, but Nora silenced with a look. Now that her brother had finally found someone he loved, and who love him enough to marry him, there was no way she was going to risk her youngest scaring the poor man away.

"You know we should make a family day of it." Sarah said. "The guys could get an early start for surfing and the rest of us could join them on the beach at a more civilised hour."

"That sounds like a great idea Sarah." Nora quickly agreed, she would never object to anything that go her family together.

Justin nodded in agreement. "Luc do you surf at all?"

"A little." Luc admitted. "I assume that means I have to come?"

"Totally." Justin said and turned to Brody. "And you?"

"No, I don't surf."

"Time to learn." Justin told him. "You can't be a Walker and not surf at least once, I even got Sarah and Kitty out there."

"Exactly once." Kitty muttered.

Brody looked at Nora who smiled at him and he realised that this was Justin's way of accepting him into the family, whether as his mother's boyfriend or sister's father he wasn't sure but it was acceptance none the less. "Fine, I will try, but I don't promise anything."

"Don't worry Brody." Scotty told him. "Justin is the only one who can surf with any real skill; we just try not to fall off straight away."

"That's comforting, but how come you aren't pushing Jonathan into this?"

"Technically he's not dating a Walker." Justin pointed out. "Besides it sounds like he has a history date with Warren on the beach."

"And as we all saw earlier I really can't swim." Warren point out.

"What about Seth?" Justin turned his attention to Kitty.

"I'll ask." She promised. Seth had phoned just before dinner, he apologised profusely but he'd had to cover for someone at work and wouldn't be able to make it. Kevin had teased her that they might be scaring him away, but Kitty pointed out that he'd survived not only a Walker Christmas but also Sarah's wedding. She doubted he'd be scared off at this point.

Justin grinned at his success in getting pretty much every man in the family to go surfing at the same time. "Good"

Taylor elbowed him. "Is this a boys only trip or do I get to come?"

"Of course you do." He said quickly then apologised. "Sorry but those two refused to go a second time and mom refused to even try, so I guess I got used to assuming women wouldn't want to."

"Oh I'll be there." Taylor assured him. "And just for that I'm going to show you up in front of everyone."

"Oh you are on." Justin grinned and gave her a quick kiss.

"Well it sounds like Saturday is all planned." Nora said. "Scotty are you and Saul both off?"

"I have to work in the evening." Saul told his sister. "But we'll both be there for the day."

"Good, Kevin no working either."

"Yes mom." Kevin replied obediently.

"Well if that's all arranged, how about some more wine?" Nora asked standing up. "I don't know about anyone else but my glass is empty."

"Oh we can't have that at a Walker party." Scotty said with a laugh, but got up along with Saul to help Nora fetch more wine.

When they had filled everyone's glasses again Luc turned to Kyle. "So how did you meet Scotty?" He asked, he was actually surprised that none of the Walkers had asked that yet, unless it had been out of his hearing but he assumed not since Sarah was always quick to fill him on any gossip.

"We met at a party." Kyle told him.

"Darlin' do you meet everyone at parties?" Warren asked with a grin.

Kyle pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Just the important ones." He told him then added to the rest. "We met at a party a mutual friend was holding, well actually in my case it was a friend of a friend, who had apparently decided I work too much."

"You do." Scotty and Warren both said at the same time.

Kyle poked Warren in the ribs but Scotty was far enough away to escape retaliation. "I take it back, I meet all the worst people at parties. But yes that's where I met Scotty, I ran into him a few more times through friends and we ended up commiserating about our families over a bottle of something with a high alcohol content. One thing led to another and to bed but we were never in love and stayed friends even after I moved back north."

"What brought you to LA in the first place?" Justin asked.

"Internship." Kyle explained. "Six months and it was just after the last fight with my parents so the opposite end of the country sounded like a good idea."

"I remember parts of that conversation." Scotty said. "But large chunks of the night are a blur."

"At least you remembered it happened." Jonathan said with a guilty glance at Saul that the other man noticed and squeezed his hand. Only Nora knew the details and they weren't about to share the details with the rest of the family.

"There is that." Scotty agreed hiding his frown, there was history behind Jonathan's comment he was sure about it, but since he was only married to a Walker he was actually capable of letting people keep their secrets. "Though waking up with him using me as a pillow would have been a pretty big give away."

"He does tend to do that." Warren agreed without a hint of the jealously that was faintly visible on Kevin.

"No, I use you as a hot water bottle since you like to keep the AC so high." Kyle protested.

"Change of topic time." Scotty put in, having noticed that Kevin didn't look pleased with the direction the conversation had taken. "How is the new exhibition going Luc?"

*"*"*

The rest of the evening passed happily enough, the kids ended up watching the second Shrek film as well though apparently by that point it had been long enough since dinner that they needed popcorn.

It was only when everyone was starting to leave that Warren was able to get Scotty alone. "Does Sarah have a different father to the others?" He asked without mincing his words, privacy he had quickly noticed was a rare commodity around the Walkers and had to be taken advantage of when it was found.

Scotty nodded. "They only found out a few months ago. Please don't bring it up, everyone is still getting used to the idea, especially Sarah. She was raised as William Walker's daughter but she's actually Brody's."

Warren nodded. "I won't say anything."

"How did you know?"

"Her scent is a little different from the rest." Warren admitted, hiding the whole truth. He didn't want to mention it before he'd talked to Kyle and get his opinion. Even if he did decide to mention it he thought he should probably tell Sarah, and Brody, first. Scotty nodded, accepting what he was told but Kyle who was the only one near enough to hear frowned a little at that.

*"*"*

When they returned to their hotel room Kyle finally asked Warren what that had been about. "And don't tell me it was nothing, I saw the way you frowned when Sarah said she and her children had good hearing and when you told Scotty her scent was a little different you were hiding something from him."

"You know me too well Kyle." Warren told him as he sat down to pull off his boots.

"Don't try and change the subject." Kyle said. "You also checked the scents of Paige and Cooper when you hugged them good bye."

"I did." Warren admitted. "Because I wanted to check something, and I was right."

"Right about what?" Kyle asked sitting down beside Warren. "Is there something wrong with them?"

"No, nothing wrong with any of them." Warren assured him. "But all four, Sarah, the kids and Brody, do share a common scent. They have fae blood."

"Fae blood?" Kyle asked in shock. "Can you tell how far back?"

"At least a couple of generations for Brody." Warren said. "It's hard to tell exactly but I doubt he's a first generation half-blood, there's very little power to his scent."

Kyle frowned. "But shouldn't they know what they are? Or at least Brody should, since he didn't raise Sarah I suppose he might have just not told her yet." Kyle personally only knew of two part-blood fae, both of whom knew their ancestry.

"Not even the first generation always know." Warren admitted. "Sometimes they were abandoned by the fae parent before or just after they were born, such unions were not always voluntary for the fae but under orders of the Grey Lords."

Kyle frowned at that but decided to avoid what was obviously fae internal politics, he had enough trouble dealing with just the werewolves. "Do they have any of the abilities of the fae?"

Warren shook his head. "I doubt it, or at least nothing beyond better than normal hearing, otherwise they would have guessed what they might be once the fae came out. I think the better question is should I tell them?"

Kyle thought about it then shook his head. "No, I don't think so. From everything I've heard I think the family has been through enough as it is in the last five or six years. If we can keep this from them then it isn't going to do them any harm, you said they don't have any abilities?"

"From what I've heard about half of the fae-halfbloods are entirely human. And repeated crossing with humans diminishes any abilities still further; people like Ariana's grandson Phin are the rare ones."

"Then we will say nothing." Kyle said. "They don't need to know and it can't harm them not to, plus I'm worried about how the others may react."

"You're right." Warren agreed. "I'll say nothing and leave things as they are."

*"*"*

Thursday and Friday were spent catching up with some of Kyle's old friends, a few of which he'd only managed to get back in contact with via Scotty. They ended up having lunch with Sarah on Thursday when they bumped into her while she was out shopping and on Friday Justin just happened to end up taking his break in the same coffee shop where they were having a rest from shopping.

Both Warren and Kyle were starting to suspect a conspiracy.

"Should be expect Kitty to join us later?" Kyle asked Justin with a laugh.

Justin looked a little uncomfortable. "Kitty is still not really comfortable with you guys."

"With me." Warren corrected and the fact that Justin didn't argue was proof enough.

"Just give her some time and she'll come around." Justin advised. "She's just very conservative."

"We're from the Tri-Cities." Kyle told him. "Believe me we know what conservative means, but if you don't make them accept you then they never will."

"She'll come around." Justin repeated. "She's coming tomorrow and if she had such a big problem with Warren then she would find an excuse not to. It was probably a good thing that she got to meet you before she found out, otherwise she'd probably have been more upset."

"She was pretty upset anyway." Warren pointed out, remembering Kitty yell at her brother, asking how dare he put her son in danger by bring someone like Warren into the house.

"She wasn't thinking." Justin told him. "It was the shock talking and you have to admit that we did have a good reason to be shocked."

"But your first instinct was to try and help." Kyle said and then frowned. "And for future reference, if a werewolf is injured do not try to help."

"I noticed the eye colour." Justin said noncommittally.

"It's a sign of the change." Warren told him. "Usually gold but some have blue eyes instead. If you see that do not make eye contact or any sudden movements."

"It would be bad for your health." Kyle added.

"You've see it?" Justin asked.

"Warren was very badly hurt, he didn't even know me." Kyle said with a sad smile. "He'd nearly died so I'm not surprised he lost control."

"I still knew you and I wasn't impressed when Darryl got between us." Warren took Kyle's hand on the table before turning his attention back to Justin. "And if you ever have to deal with an injured wolf do not try and get between him and his mate."

"Mate?"

"It's like a wife, or husband, only more permanent." Kyle told him. "It means the chances of Warren cheating are less than zero and he'll want to kill anyone who even flirted with me."

"That must make going out awkward." Justin took a sip of his drink to cover his shock at that one.

"Like you wouldn't want to hit a guy who hit on Taylor." Kyle pointed out. "And just because you'd want to doesn't mean you would, same with Warren. Just because you want something or your instincts tell you to do something doesn't mean you do it, any more than craving cake means you actually eat it."

"No darlin', that one I certainly do." Warren laughed, Kyle's explanation had eased Justin's tension.

"That's because your metabolism runs fast." Kyle reminded him and then added in an aside to Justin. "It's seriously not fair, he can eat a twenty pound pot roast followed by an entire pie and never gain a pound."

"Must mean you never have a problem with leftovers." Justin commented with a grin.

Kyle pretended to think about it. "There is that, but the metabolism does make fattening him up difficult."

"You planning on having wolf for Thanksgiving this year instead of turkey?" Justin asked.

"Nope, that might be hard to explain to our non-pack friends." Kyle said. Although Adam would be holding his usual Thanksgiving dinner for the pack, Kyle and Warren were currently planning on skipping it and hosting dinner for several people of their acquaintance who didn't have the option of going home for the holiday. "But after last year, even after he'd healed he was still about twenty pounds underweight. Took me ages to get him fed back up." Warren muttered something about it not been his fault. "The injury? No." Kyle agreed. "The not eating properly for the previous few months?"

Warren bowed his head at the glare Kyle gave him and didn't reply, the reason he hadn't eaten properly was from missing Kyle and feeling like he'd lost him but they didn't need to go over that territory again.

"Sounds like you could do with mom to keep you all in line." Justin said with a laugh. "She's very good at taking care of people, whether they want it or not."

"That's the definition of a good mom." Kyle smiled.

"So you guys planning anything for tonight?" Justin asked.

"Kyle's arranged to meet some old friends at a bar." Warren told him. "And with any luck my ears might have just about stopped ringing by tomorrow afternoon."

"I told you it won't be that loud." Kyle protested.

"We have different definitions of loud."

"Keep complaining and I'll drag you to a karaoke place I know." Kyle mock-threatened.

"You guys are crazy." Justin said as he drained the last of his coffee. "And I hate to drink and run but I have to get back, see you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early." Kyle promised and Warren just nodded, he wasn't looking forward to that part of the day but he could always nap on the beach. An advantage of a werewolf's healing was that sunburn wasn't such a problem.


End file.
